Controversial Non-Paper Proposing Border Changes in Western Balkans Requires Firmer Stance from Brussels

A firmer stance from Brussels - noticeably missing last week - against a controversial document proposing border changes in the Western Balkans would help calm the growing anxieties in the region, analysts said. At the same time, regional and international actors contacted by EURACTIV firmly rejected ideas from the phantom non-paper.

Last week a Ljubljana-based outlet published what it said was a 'non-paper' allegedly authored by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, or someone from his inner circle, proposing possible border changes to address lingering malaise in the former Yugoslavia.

Janša has denied writing the document. Asked by EURACTIV, European Council President's Charles Michel's office could not deny receiving the paper or provide any further comment.

North Macedonia's Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Dimitrov, whose country would be affected by the proposed border changes, called the proposed concept of greater states within ethnic boundaries "dangerous".

"The only proper strategic response to these debates would be to strengthen and make visible progress with the European integration of the region," the politician responsible for Skopje's European integration told EURACTIV in exclusive comments.

"We need to focus not on creating greater states, but on making great European democracies and great economies in the region. The perceived fading of the European perspective of the Balkans in the last years may have actually something to do with the rebirth of this opposing vision," he added.

This is not the first time territorial changes are proposed as solutions to the political woes of the peninsula.

The idea, which resurfaces every couple of years, was reportedly discussed in 2018 between Serbian President...