Podgorica, (MINA) – The situation in the Balkans is very serious and the traditionally strong Russian influence and the growing influence of China make things even more complicated, which is why the European Union’s greater involvement is needed, former Montenegrin ambassador to NATO and OSCE Vesko Garcevic has stated.
In an interview with Mina, Garcevic said that the situation in the Balkans has never been ideal, but that now it has become very serious.
“The region is far from being stable. There are multiple burdening issues and, interestingly enough, these wounds do not heal with time. The ideas and political fabrications which we once thought were defeated and remained in the past are becoming popular again,” said Garcevic, who is now a professor at the University of Boston.
Asked about the importance of the role of NATO and the EU in the region, Garcevic noted that the Union has been focused on its own issues for quite a while.
“It is facing numerous internal challenges and not only those concerning Brexit and the rise of populism and extreme nationalism. Today, the EU operates more as a group of national states than a well-organized unified system as it tends to present itself and as it has been perceived in recent years,” Garcevic said.
According to him, the inability to establish a common strategy on migration is an obvious example.
He remarked that, amidst those circumstances, the EU keeps the enlargement policy very low on the agenda and implements it through the technical negotiation process.
“The EU wants this process to last as long as possible and the countries of the region are helping by not implementing reforms at the agreed pace. There is little real engagement outside this, and it seems to me that that there is a lack of political will as well,” Garcevic said.
He added that the results of the referendum in Macedonia are an obvious example that sending political messages from Brussels and travelling to Skopje for a few days is not enough.
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