BELGRADE – Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajčak, in his Op-ed for Serbian daily newspaper Danas, explained that harsh rhetoric from the past which is currently being used in the Western Balkans, does not solve the problems, but only postpones them.
Lajčak wrote that even though the EU gave a clear vision of the path for the Western Balkans, there still exists “deeply rooted nationalism“, as well as the calls for “ethnically pure states and uniting the nation under a common flag with the double-headed eagle, which can be seen as appeal for the EU to accept the role of arbitrator more decisively.“
He explained that the EU had a desire to believe in efforts of the governments of the region in fulfilling the conditions which are necessary for the accession, but now there is a situation “which can not be understood otherwise than as blackmail.“
However, the recent rhetoric of Hashim Thaçi and Edi Rama „although alarming, it is the result of convincing the Western Balkans in our irreplaceable role in solving problems, and then leaving the region to cope with them alone,“ writes Lajčak.
The solution of this problem Lajčak does not see in the accession of the Western Balkans to the EU but in “a more active work in these states“, which would lead to creating a specialised body of the EU which could deal with the Western Balkans, similar to the MMF missions, explained Lajčak.