Summit backs Balkan, Turkish EU accession

Alongside Turkey, the whole Western Balkan region is vital to Europe’s stability and should soon be allowed to enter the EU, said the leaders of 19 mainly central and southern European countries who attended a summit in Ohrid, Macedonia last weekend (2 May).

Admitting those countries to the EU and also NATO would stabilise south-eastern Europe, particularly in the wake of Kosovo’s independence, the leaders said. 

“Europe can’t be whole without expanding to the Western Balkans,” Albanian President Bamir Topi said during the meeting, which brought together the presidents of Austria, Bosnia, Germany, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and the Ukraine. Leaders of Italy and Romania only sent representatives. 

Macedonia’s president, Branko Crvenkovski, supported his Albanian colleague, saying that the region’s candidate and aspiring candidate countries have “no viable political alternative” to full integration into Western institutions.

Meanwhile, Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic critisised the EU for delaying a pre-membership accord with his country while signing one with Serbia last week (EURACTIV 30/04/08). 

“We were told the deal would be signed first in April, then in May, and now June is mentioned as a possible date. Our people are hurt and a bitter feeling lingers. Bosnia has fulfilled all the conditions. Serbia got the deal. The countries who have committed genocide got it, but not Bosnia, who was the victim,” Silajdzic said. 

No agreement could be reached, however, on the hottest topic of the summit – the question of whether to recognise the independence of Kosovo. The country’s president, Fatmir Sejdiu, was not invited to the event. 

On the other hand, the leaders present at the summit fully supported Turkey’s EU membership bid, acknowledging that both sides could benefit from such a step. Slovenian President Danilo Turk said that Turkey’s membership was a ‘key’ step on the EU’s route towards becoming a global power, a statement mirrored by Turkish President Abdullah Gül, who was a guest at the summit. 

Gül pointed out that the prospect of EU accession “remains the main incentive for the continuation of reforms in the region,” but to achieve them, he said his country needed the Union’s solidarity and understanding “more than ever”. 

Dismissing critics who try to define Europe geographically, the Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, said Turkey is “definitely part of Europe”, stressing Europe does not “belong to anybody”. 

He and his colleagues also called on the EU not to change the pre-set perspectives for Turkey’s EU membership during the talks, stressing that the only viable option could be full membership. 

Turkey had recently fulfilled a key condition of joining the bloc as its parliament approved changes to the controversial article 301 of the penal code, which outlaws criticism of Turkish identity (EURACTIV 30/04/08). 

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