Financial Times: Western Neglect and Homegrown Troubles Afflict the Balkans

Financial Times

“As Misha Glenny says, there’s no love lost between President Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia and Albin Kurti, Kosovo’s prime minister. It was good that Nato and the EU brought the two leaders to Brussels this week to spell out the need to dial down the tensions that flared up at the start of August.

However, Misha correctly observes that there is an underlying western neglect of the region. This risks playing into the hands of Moscow, as Dimitar Bechev, another leading Balkans specialist, points out.

In particular, whereas the rest of central and eastern Europe (but not Belarus, Moldova or Ukraine) joined the EU between 2004 and 2013, most Balkan states are hardly any closer to membership than when they received the promise of entry two decades ago…”

• “Russian disinformation is widespread in Serbia, writes Antoinette Nikolova, director of the Balkan Free Media Initiative, for euractiv.com.”