Escobar: Western Balkans Need Politicians Dedicated to European Integration and Dialogue

Gabriel Escobar (Photo: U.S. Embassy in Serbia)

Gabriel Escobar, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary for the Western Balkans, has said that the region needs political leaders dedicated to European integration and open to dialogue – and who are focused on 21st-century opportunities rather than on the problems of the past.

“The key for a stronger Western Balkans is that which creates inclusion, not exclusion, integration, not disintegration, ethnic reconciliation, not nationalist policies,” Escobar said in the evening of Oct. 26, during his keynote address at the Belgrade Security Forum.

Escobar stated that one of the region’s greatest and most disappointing challenges is the fact that “many politicians have not advanced their way of thinking” and the focus remains on problems from the 1990s – which should have been overcome through political good will long ago.

“We need politicians dedicated to striving toward the EU, [to] the will of the people, but, unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. We’re seeing some disturbing trends in that power is becoming concentrated in [certain] political parties, and economic opportunities are becoming concentrated only in the people associated with those parties,” he explained.

Addressing the Forum, Emanuele Giaufret, the head of the Delegation and ambassador of the EU to Serbia, stated that Brussels sees no alternative to Western Balkan countries joining the European Union.

Giaufret reiterated that the European Commission’s 2020 progress report for Serbia highlighted the country’s renewed dedication to the reforms necessary for accession, but that the document also pointed to the fact that much more needs to be done, particularly with regards to the judiciary, freedom of speech and freedom of the press, support to civil society, combating corruption and organized crime, and war crime justice.