Serbia and Montenegro are likely to become the next countries to join the European Union by 2025, an official spokesman for the bloc, in charge of membership applications, told Reuters.
The European Union is embarking on diplomatic efforts to accelerate the steps to transfer the six countries in the Western Balkans to the EU after several years of progress, which has been a mixed success.
“It’s time to complete the work of 1989,” said European Commissioner Johannes Khan, referring to the EU’s eastward expansion after the fall of the Berlin Wall. “We have set 2025 as an indicative date for Serbia and Montenegro, which is a realistic, but also very ambitious goal.”
Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia are hoping to join the European Union, but in recent years their chances for membership have gradually waned, as the block politicians, faced with growing eurosceptism in their countries, the financial crisis and voting in Britain about leaving the bloc , it seems, have lost interest in this.
But the growing geopolitical influence of Russia, the migration crisis that affected the region, Turkey’s departure towards authoritarian rule and the desire to strengthen European integration after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in 2019 provided the Balkans with a new opportunity.
“Either we export stability to the region, or import instability,” Khan said, arguing that the accession process is the best way to fight corruption, organized crime and the threat of authoritarianism in the region.
Serbia is seen as a starting point, and the EU hopes that Belgrade’s influence in the Balkans can help other reforms.
Gan intends to visit Serbia in February after the publication of the official Balkan strategy of the European Commission on February 6, and EC President Jean-Claude Juncker should visit all six countries in support of this initiative.