The EU has changed its membership criteria since the start of the war in Ukraine and is beginning to imitate NATO, prioritizing geopolitics as a reason for new members, while putting aside the criteria that were previously important to it, while it hasn’t carried out the internal reorganization process either.
That stand was presented by former President Pendarovski, who, speaking at the debate on European integration, also said countries in the region were not advancing in terms of the quality parameters of democracies, but rather were backsliding.
The European Stability Initiative’s Kristof Bender stated that the only way forward for the Western Balkans towards the EU was through the European single market, which requires countries to align 70–80% with the acquis, while, when political conditions changed, they would become members.
According to Ivan Vujacic, Professor at the University of Belgrade, the Western Balkans is in lethargy, pretending to want to join the EU and implement reforms, while the EU pretends to believe it and want it as part of the European family, constantly making up new alternatives to membership.