EU flag (Pixabay)
The European Union must reach out decisively to the Western Balkans and provide an attainable outlook for accession, else it risks autocracy becoming entrenched in the region's nations as negotiations drag on, according to a Dec. 25 report titled Western Balkans 2030 Trends, released by the Central European Visegrad Insight platform.
"The EU needs a clear vision of the enlargement perspective for the Western Balkans. Despite a new methodology and tangible financial commitments, the EU lacks a sound and consistent policy on the region," the report on the main trends in the Western Balkans which are expected to shape EU policy on its southeastern neighbors in the decade to come.
The document was compiled in December by the Visegrad Insight platform, established by the Res Publica Foundation, an independent think tank in Warsaw, with financial support from the Polish Foreign Ministry.
The report concludes that the EU, encumbered by internal problems, enlargement fatigue and "interactions with nominally pro-EU political elites," dependent on the good will of all 27 member states, is "unable and unwilling to take a decisive step forward towards the region."
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