By: Ilir Deda
Dear Saša,
More than two decades after the Thessaloniki Summit, it seems that an answer may finally be emerging to the question of whether membership in the European Union is truly an attainable political goal or merely a promise that keeps being pushed into the future. The Franco-German non-paper on enlargement, presented ahead of the European Union – Western Balkans Summit, deserves both close attention and strong support. Its significance lies in the fact that, for the first time in a long while, the most influential countries of the European Union are attempting to address the issue of trust.
A generation of young people across the region grew up hearing that Europe was their future. In the meantime, governments changed, elections were held, strategies were adopted, negotiation chapters were opened and closed, while membership remained just as distant as before. For many citizens, European integration ceased to be a political project and became a kind of permanent horizon – visible in the distance, yet never quite reachable. It is understandable that, in such an atmosphere, frustration, indifference, and a growing lack of faith that the process leads anywhere would take root.
It is no coincidence that this initiative is emerging now. Russia’s war against Ukraine has fundamentally changed the way the European Union views enlargement. It is no longer only a question of transforming candidate countries; it has also become a question of the EU’s own security, resilience, and political influence. In a world of growing geopolitical competition, keeping the Western Balkans in a permanent waiting room is becoming an increasingly unsustainable policy and an ever more visible reminder of the gap between European promises and political reality.
In that sense, the Franco-German proposal reflects a simple truth: today, the European Union has as much need for successful enlargement as candidate countries have for successful integration. That is why the most important message of this document is a change of logic.
Instead of integration beginning only on the day a country formally becomes a member, the proposal seeks to make European integration visible much earlier. Participation in certain EU institutions, attendance at meetings as observers, access to European programmes, deeper security cooperation, inclusion in parts of the Single Market, and gradual integration into the European economic space would no longer be rewards at the end of the journey, but part of the journey itself. In other words, Europe should begin to be felt before it formally arrives.
When progress is measured primarily through bureaucratic steps while rewards remain invisible for years, public support naturally weakens. The Franco-German proposal seeks to break precisely that vicious circle.
Of course, it would be wrong to view this document as a shortcut to membership. It is not. On the contrary, the proposed model remains firmly based on merit. Progress would depend on reforms, alignment with European rules, and adherence to fundamental democratic standards. It even foresees the possibility of reversing benefits in cases of backsliding.
Yet this is precisely why the approach may prove politically sustainable for both EU member states and candidate countries – including, I hope, Kosovo in the very near future.
For Kosovo, as well as for the region as a whole, the most important aspect of the proposal is its emphasis on gradual integration into the European Single Market. For years, the European perspective has been viewed primarily through the lens of formal membership. This document opens a different perspective.
Under this new approach, there is an opportunity to look once again at the region’s European future through the prism of integration rather than exclusively through the prism of blockages.
The key question is therefore no longer simply when the countries of the Western Balkans will become members of the European Union, but how much Europe they can gain even before membership.
In that sense, full integration into the European Single Market could become the most important political objective for the region in the coming decade – not as a substitute for membership – but as its most important precursor.
Such a step would represent far more than another stage in the accession process. The free movement of goods, services, capital, and people; access to a market of nearly 450 million citizens; the removal of numerous regulatory and administrative barriers; and deeper integration into European economic flows could constitute the most significant transformation of the region since the end of the wars of the 1990s.
For citizens, this would mean greater opportunities for employment, business, education, and mobility. For regional economies, it would mean more investment, stronger growth, and faster convergence with European living standards. And for the European Union, it would provide a way to demonstrate that enlargement is not merely a geopolitical necessity, but also a concrete project of shared prosperity.
If this approach evolves into full integration of the Western Balkans into the European Single Market by the end of this decade, it could become the most important European breakthrough for the region since the Thessaloniki Summit of 2003.
For the countries of the region, it would mean far more than economic convergence with the European Union. It would mean gradual inclusion in the same regulatory, institutional, and developmental space to which EU member states belong. In other words, the process of European integration would finally begin to produce results that are visible and measurable in the daily lives of citizens.
That is precisely why the idea of gradual inclusion in the Single Market is the most important element of the Franco-German proposal. For the first time, it offers citizens of the Western Balkans the possibility of experiencing some of the most tangible benefits of European integration long before formal accession.
This would not solve all of the region’s problems. It would not eliminate bilateral disputes. It would not replace necessary reforms. It would not automatically deliver political stability. But it would provide a decisive incentive for a major leap forward and could restore what may have been lost most over the past decade – the sense that the process is actually moving ahead.
At the same time, this new approach brings certain challenges. If integration becomes increasingly based on individual performance and concrete progress, differences among candidate countries may become more pronounced. This raises an important question for the region itself: will the countries of the Western Balkans be able to preserve cooperation and a shared European perspective if they advance at different speeds?
This is precisely why European integration and regional cooperation should not be seen as competing processes. On the contrary, the success of one increasingly depends on the success of the other.
Yet even if we set aside the specific measures contained in the proposal, one important fact remains. After many years in which discussions focused primarily on conditions, procedures, and obstacles, the conversation is once again about integration itself. And that is a profound change.
If Thessaloniki in 2003 represented a promise that the Western Balkans would one day become part of the European Union, then this Franco-German proposal may represent the beginning of a new phase – one in which Europe ceases to be merely a destination at the end of the road and becomes a reality gradually built along the way.
For the generation that was still in primary school in 2003, the European perspective was a promise about the future. Today, those people are in their thirties. Many have already left the region. Many no longer believe they will ever become citizens of the European Union.
The value of this proposal lies not primarily in the procedures it changes, but in its attempt to restore faith that European integration is not an endless process without an end point. After more than two decades of waiting, what matters most is that there is once again space to speak about Europe’s future with hope rather than skepticism.
For the European idea has always rested on the belief that a shared future is possible – one built on peace, equality, and common development.
After many years of waiting, perhaps the time has come for the Western Balkans to believe in that possibility once again.
Warm regards,
Ilir
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
