EU Policy of ‘Containing’ Balkans is Dangerous Illusion

But the French and the Dutch are not the only ones to blame. Although German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out strongly in favor of the North Macedonian bid, the German parliament was decidedly lukewarm about opening negotiations.

Indeed, it has fallen to a bizarre amalgam of the EU's East and Central European members, plus Italy, including illiberal outliers like Poland and Hungary, to openly champion continued enlargement in the Western Balkans.

This bloc may have its own, not entirely benevolent, reasons for supporting the Western Balkans, but they are nevertheless advancing a policy that is at least consistent with what Brussels and the member states have maintained for nearly two decades as the foundation of the EU's policy towards the region.

Since the 2003 Thessaloniki summit, the EU has insisted not merely on an open-door policy towards the Western Balkans but has often characterized the region's inclusion into the bloc as a historical inevitability.

That millennial argument was always ill advised, precisely because it served to obscure the EU's often incoherent and languid approach to dealing with the lack of substantive political progress in the region, especially since the 2008 financial crisis.

But it was comforting and convincing to many ordinary citizens in the Western Balkans - and hope is a powerful commodity. That is, it was, until the likes of France and The Netherlands turned that rhetoric and policy on its head.

Now, the EU's approach the Western Balkans appears to have shifted, from "membership is inevitable" to "membership is improbable". That is no small change. It is a reversal that can only be interpreted as betrayal, especially by those in the region genuinely committed to the broader Euro-Atlantic...