EU summit points to reforms the bloc needs in order to welcome Ukraine and others as new members
Fernando Abans
The European Union summit last week in Granada, Spain,
was a glimmer of hope for the Balkans countries, that have been waiting a long
time to join the club as Ukraine has. This lateness to start another
enlargement have generated a feeling of exclusion to all the candidates who
have been working hard and making great changes in their countries and
institutions to become close to the European Union standards. Even though there
are many countries in this situation, it is important to remark Macedonia’s
case. Macedonia has been an official candidate since 2005, since then they even
changed the name’s country from Old Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia to Republic
of North Macedonia because of Greek demands in order not only to let them join
the EU, but even to join the NATO (what they did last 2020). Another conflict
with Bulgaria had to be solved before the adhesion process started officially
in 2022. The European leaders are talking about 2030, which is still 7 years
away. Macedonia waited for 17 years just to start the process and had to change
the country’s name for it. Is it not only soon enough but also fair to these
countries to wait until 2030 to have a chance to enter the EU? Apparently, the
EU thinks so, but only time will tell.
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