What to do with the Balkans

"After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the European Union made a promise to its neighbors in the east that was as simple as it was successful: Become like us, then you will belong to us....

... For the six Balkan states that still want to join the EU - Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia - the message is clear: the old promise that committed reforms will eventually be followed by EU membership no longer applies . Nobody felt this more clearly than North Macedonia, which at the request of Greece even changed its state name in order to be able to start talks about accession to the EU."