The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday that the European Union should accept Western Balkan member states to avoid the possibility of a new war, despite the fact that a number of countries oppose this.
"If we are not open to the countries of that very complex and tragic region, and if we do not open a European perspective for them, we will see the return of the war in that area as we saw in the 1990s," said Jean-Claude Juncker in Parliament European.
"I do not want to see the return of the war in the Balkans and we should open on them," he said. But French President Emmanuel Macron, who also spoke before the European Parliament Tuesday in Strasbourg, said the European Union must first regulate domestic governance before accepting new seats."I do not want the Balkans to return to Turkey or Russia," he said, pointing out that if there were new memberships, then the EU would become with 30 or 31 member states.
"With the same rules, it would be simply unfeasible." said President Macron. Some EU countries seek to accelerate efforts to bring the region closer against the growing influence of Russia, Turkey and China, as well. The enlargement strategy of the European Union sees Serbia and Montenegro as the two most likely countries to join EU by 2025, although Mr Juncker said that the mention of that year as a period of membership of these two countries with a degree of advanced talks, it is not a pledge but an encouragement for candidate countries. On Tuesday, the European Commission recommended the opening talks with Albania and Macedonia, while Kosovo and Bosnia remain the last in this process. Kosovo is the only country in the region that is not involved in the visa-free regime.