EU, Balkan leaders gather in Sofia for summit

Leaders of the 28 EU states and six Western Balkan countries meet on Thursday in Bulgaria, the EU’s current presidency-holder, with a host of unresolved issues to be discussed with the aspiring members of the European bloc.

BIRN sources within the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry also said there are few expectations of final resolutions to the two main bilateral issues in the Balkans that hinder the EU enlargement progress of the countries involved – the Serbia-Kosovo normalization dialogue and the Greece-Macedonia ‘name’ talks.

The Foreign Ministry sources confirmed there is a planned meeting on the sidelines of the main summit between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev. But there is no signal that there will be a similar meeting between Serbian President Alexander Vucic and his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci.

“I really hope that Vucic and Thaci shake hands after the end of the summit, and show to the world that the Balkans can be just as civilized as the two Koreas,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Wednesday.

More optimism surrounds the Zaev-Tsipras meeting, which will be focused on finding a compromise solution to their long-standing bilateral name dispute which is blocking Macedonia’s accession to NATO and the EU.

The meeting is seen as an important milestone in the ongoing talks between the two sides, which have been going on intensively for the past four months. Many observers believe the talks are at their final and most sensitive phase, and that the two premiers’ meeting may yield some breakthrough. Macedonia’s Zaev said this week that while he remains an optimist, the summit should not be seen as a deadline for reaching a compromise.

On Wednesday, the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said that he hopes that the summit will bring “our Western Balkan friends” closer together.

“Tomorrow we will meet our Western Balkan partners collectively for the first time in 15 years. It will be an opportunity for both sides to reaffirm that the EU perspectives remain the Western Balkans’ geostrategic choice,” Tusk said.

Planned infrastructural and connectivity projects dominated official discussions on the day before the summit.

“It’s a shame that we don’t have connecting flights between all the Balkan capitals,” Bulgaria’s EU Presidency Minister Liylana Pavlova told reporters.

Pavlova added that as well as a political declaration at Thursday’s summit that is already agreed by all 28 EU members and the six Western Balkan states, there will be an annex called the ‘Sofia Agenda’.

“It will deal with transport and communication connectivity in the Balkans and another package of measures divided into three pillars – institution-building, security, and migration, as well as concrete infrastructural projects,” Pavlova said

She added that connectivity is not a substitute for enlargement but is a “parallel, additional process that boosts each country’s move towards joining the EU”.

For Bulgaria, the very fact that the summit is taking place is considered a success for the country.

“Initially, our people [EU heads of governments] did not really care about the Balkans, it was very hard to convince them. But now they took the topics close to heart, and this is due to [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel. I don’t know if she will get a Nobel Peace Prize one day, but we need to thank her for all she did for the Balkans,” Borissov said.

Some experts expressed concern because the words “enlargement” and “membership” will be omitted from the declaration at the Sofia summit.

“The whole atmosphere reminds me of the one before when we were very happy to see the EU re-engaged with our countries, but nothing more followed it up,” said the director of the Belgrade Centre for European Integration, Jovan Teokarevic.

Original source: Balkan Insight
Published on 17 May 2018