If Ukraine waited for the EU as long as North Macedonia, it would start negotiations in 2045

This was stated by Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, in an interview with Radio "Free Europe."

Kos expressed her expectations that by the end of her mandate as commissioner – a position she took seven months ago – Montenegro and Albania could become members of the European Union. On April 29th, she arrived in Belgrade amid a political crisis that started six months ago and mass protests against the regime of Aleksandar Vučić.

"Serbia already has a new government, and I will first meet with the new prime minister (Đuro Macut – editor's note), because Serbia really needs to fulfill its promises. Words are not enough. That is why I see my mission or visit as a truly significant effort to bring Serbia back on the European path. I will meet not only with government representatives, not only with the president. I will meet with representatives of civil society organizations, with whom I maintain constant contact. I will meet with students. The situation is not easy, but actually, what the protesters are demanding from the Serbian government is the same thing the European Commission is asking Serbia to fulfill in the negotiation process. These are the rule of law, the fight against corruption, public procurement, media legislation, and electoral legislation. Serbia promised a lot in December in the so-called unofficial document, so now we will have to check if they are fulfilling their promises. I like to say that I am the biggest supporter of the protesters because if Serbia is serious about its path to the EU – and they tell me it is – it will have to fulfill its promises," said Marta Kos.

She pointed out that she has been a commissioner for five months, but she has also met with Vučić because she believes there needs to be dialogue: "To be a candidate country, or to pretend to be applying for membership – that is a choice. And they chose, Serbia chose this path, but this choice comes with responsibility, with obligations. I hope the new government will meet expectations. In the past few months or year, the fulfillment of obligations has not been good."

Regarding the political paralysis in Kosovo, Kos noted that she is in contact with Kosovo politicians, and they claim they are "for" normalizing relations with Serbia, which is actually a prerequisite for starting the negotiation process for Pristina and obtaining candidate status.

"You know, I am from Slovenia, which used to be part of this territory in a broader sense. So, in some aspects, the region was better 20 years ago than it is today. There are two very sad stories, or even three. One of them is that Kosovo cannot move forward. Another sad story is North Macedonia. You know, if we waited with Ukraine as long as North Macedonia has waited to start negotiations, Ukraine would start negotiations in 2045. And, of course, we see Bosnia and Herzegovina," said the European Commissioner.

Marta Kos pointed out that there is no clarity about whether the EU's punitive measures against Kosovo will be lifted because not all member states support such a decision.

Kos also commented on the situation in Republika Srpska (RS) – an entity (constituent part – editor's note) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She revealed that not all EU members are "united" on the issue of imposing sanctions on Dodik.

"It is difficult to work with someone who is not doing everything possible in the interest of their country – Bosnia and Herzegovina. And it is difficult to work with someone who opposes territorial integrity, sovereignty, and constitutional order," she said regarding the president of RS, Milorad Dodik. "This is one of the reasons why we have still not been able to start negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, even though Bosnia and Herzegovina has candidate status. But due to the internal political situation, they cannot even appoint a chief negotiator. They are not able to lay out a reform program on paper that would allow them to receive one billion euros from the EU Growth Plan. So far, there are some positive developments, namely that in Republika Srpska, there is an opposition that is becoming more and more constructive, and this could be a breakthrough in the negotiation process."

Marta Kos also pointed out that geopolitics has changed in the sense that EU enlargement was not previously so closely tied to the security and peace of the continent.

"Somehow, with today's enlargement, we are returning to the fundamentals of why the EU was created – to ensure peace, freedom, prosperity, and today we could add – and security. This is what we are actually doing in the entire process. Of course, it still concerns chapters, clusters, and benchmarks, but we must not fail. Today, it is very important not to fail in the enlargement process, which is the EU's most successful foreign policy," she said.

The European Commissioner emphasized that it would be a failure if no new country joins the EU by the end of the current European Commission's mandate.

"We can do this with Montenegro. All the chapters are open, so we are closing them to complete the process by the end of 2026 from a technical point of view. With Albania, we could complete the process from a technical point of view by the end of 2027. Why do I say 'from a technical point of view'? Because this is a negotiation procedure, and the candidate countries need to implement reforms, but after that, it depends on the member states to decide whether these countries will become members or not. Moldova is truly a good student in the entire group. They truly feel this historic moment. And this is something we probably haven’t seen before because they want to belong to a community of values and democracy. They are ready to do everything possible. Even Ukraine. For the first time in history, we are negotiating with a country at war. Never, never have we done this before. I am sure that we could have more than two new members," said Marta Kos. | BGNES