EU Official: If Ukraine Loses War, Western Balkans Will lose EU Membership Perspective

Italy and the Balkans (Photo: PrintScreen YouTube)

The outcome of accession talks between the Western Balkans and EU is directly linked to the outcome of the war in Ukraine, European Council on Foreign Relations deputy director and chief of its office in Sofia Vessela Therneva has said.

"If Ukraine loses, then I see no perspective for enlargement," Therneva told Radio Free Europe. She stressed that the accession process only functioned when the societies of candidate states truly wanted to join the EU.

"The Ukrainians were ready to go to war for that. If, however, the societies of these countries are not ready to fight for their democratic reforms, the EU cannot do so instead of them," Therneva said in response to data indicating that only slightly upwards of 30 percent of Serbia's citizens support membership in the EU.

Commenting on recent agreements between Serbia and the EU and France on a contract for purchasing Rafale warplanes, she stressed that in addition to business and security, there was a democratic dimension involved. "When we speak of pro-European forces in Serbia, and I have been working with some of them for many, many years, I understand that they truly are afraid that there will never again be room for them, because (Serbian President Aleksandar) Vucic is seen as an European politician. In addition to all these irregularities, the state of the social system, the implosion of democracy, many of these people probably feel betrayed," she said.