en.vijesti.me<https://en.vijesti.me/world-a/balkan/796934/Serbia-and-EU-enlargement--give-me-what-you-give> Serbia and EU enlargement – what do you give? Vijesti 9–11 minutes ________________________________
<https://en.vijesti.me/Author/18/German-wave> 21.02.2026. 14:02h Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, said that in her time she will not allow “Trojan horses” to enter the EU. That is why she is in favor of “trial” accession of new countries, which would then be monitored for five, ten or fifteen years. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently told the countries of the Western Balkans: "I don't want to lose you." But before he became chancellor, he advocated primarily for "economic integration," from Serbia, to Turkey, to Ukraine - he mentioned everything together. Still others speak of a "multi-speed" EU, while still others speak of a Union in "concentric circles" where the core has more rights and obligations than the periphery. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is now saying - give what you can. In a brief statement to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), he announced surprising news – Serbia would agree to EU membership without a veto. More important to him, he said, were the common market and the free movement of goods, capital and people. Vučić thus joined his peer in terms of seniority in power, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. According to FAZ, the idea is gaining more and more fans in European capitals – while DW sources say otherwise. But can a "second-class" EU membership really break through the apparent stalemate in enlargement? Who would benefit from it? And why is Vučić, whose government is not exactly European, now showing such bigotry? Tactical time-buying Vučić has more pressing problems at home. As the European Parliament delegation in Belgrade recently saw, the authorities are reacting to student and civic protests by further manipulating the media, pressuring universities, and attacking the prosecutor's office. Ironically, this prompted Vladimir Međak of the European Movement, previously a key member of Serbia's negotiating team with the EU. As Međak wrote on the X network, in response to Brussels' demands to "arrest corrupt comrades," i.e. to establish the rule of law, Vučić first offered Serbian lithium, then sent grenades to Ukraine, and now offers to waive his veto. "Everything you need to know about managing the state and taking care of its interests. It will start offering less important friends, soon," Medjak wrote. In the critical circles of Belgrade, it is common knowledge that Vučić wants the largest EU members to turn a blind eye to his autocracy, so he is offering them various concessions. From withdrawing institutions from Kosovo, to purchasing French fighter jets, to promising lithium to Germany. This series should also include the fact that Vučić is now supposedly "waiving the veto," Srđan Majstorović, president of the Board of Directors of the Center for European Policies, told DW. "It's a tactical move to buy time," he says. "This regime did not fall into the trap of Milosevic's regime, but learned an important lesson - to stay in power for a long time, you need some kind of international legitimacy." Who wins, who loses? In a time of geopolitical upheaval – when the EU doesn't even know if it still has the United States on its side – many people think it's a good idea to quickly admit new members, no matter what. This would finally close the EU's "soft belly" in the Balkans when it comes to Serbia and the neighborhood. However, Majstorović says that it would be double naked. "That's how everyone loses. The citizens of Serbia whose rights are violated would lose. And unreformed Serbia with an authoritarian regime does not contribute to the European Union either because it disrupts the internal cohesion that the Union needs." Although it may be just a continuation of a familiar game – they would like to enter the EU, and we would like to accept them – many in Serbia might welcome the idea of an unequal membership as being placed in an eternal donkey's seat. The question is what that would do to public support for EU accession, which has, at least according to the latest published surveys, recovered slightly. According to the EU Delegation, the ratio is 45 percent to 32 percent for EU accession. According to the Ipsos agency, close to the authorities in Belgrade, it is as high as 47 to 29. According to the Center for Contemporary Politics, it is a close 36:33. As Majstorović added to DW, this is precisely where one of the dangers of the idea of "entering the EU without veto power lies." "Meanwhile, reforms are being feigned in Serbia, and then, when in the end nothing comes of joining the common market, the regime could once again accuse the EU of being insensitive, of being anti-Serbian, of not wanting us..." On the other hand, adds DW's interlocutor, neither the citizens of Serbia nor European politicians can any longer be so naive as to think that Vučić's government is capable of changes that would contradict "its undemocratic nature." So our interlocutor sees no opportunity in this whole mess, on the contrary. He only sees risks and a wall that will be difficult to break through. What is the EU calculation? In the leading European capitals – Berlin, Paris and then others – the idea has long been clear. Emmanuel Macron said it loudly when he first became President of France: the European Union cannot expand before it is reformed. Namely, the key decisions of the EU are made uniformly. And if everyone has to raise their hand for a decision, that means everyone has the right to veto. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán effectively demonstrates how much pain this brings. "Let's imagine an EU in which Chisinau, Kiev, Tirana or Podgorica would also have the possibility of blockade, not to mention Belgrade, Sarajevo or Tbilisi. How can the Union in such circumstances respond to geopolitical necessities?", summarizes FAZ now. Since it is hard to imagine that, for example, Hungary would agree to disempower itself, the idea is that at least the new members do not have the right of veto. In an interview with FAZ, Green politician Anton Hofreiter, head of the Bundestag's Committee on EU Affairs, claims that the idea of accession without veto rights (two-tier EU) is met with sympathy in various parties and countries, and even in all the capitals of the Western Balkans, at least when talking privately. When it comes to public speaking, people in Podgorica are dissatisfied. Montenegro is seen as a frontrunner that could join the EU in a year or two. They ask themselves – why would we be a second-class member, if we were not accepted through the ranks but rather fulfilled all the criteria? How realistic is it all together? Although Hofreiter advocates the idea of permanently giving new members veto power, several other sources claim that this is not being seriously considered. Legal experts say that such a thing is not in line with the EU's founding treaties, which provide only for "equal" members. This is a strong reason for skepticism, as cited by a DW source from the top of the German government. Another reason: "This would punish countries that have implemented reforms and reward those that have not or have even worked in recent years to move away from the EU's core values." As Stefan Lene, a lecturer at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, told Demostat, Brussels is actually considering a slightly different model. “There is some speculation that the Commission could propose to include provisions in the accession treaties that would limit the voting rights of new member states for a certain period of time and impose – again on a temporary basis – stronger rule of law conditionality,” he says. This would kill two birds with one stone: new members would not be able to "go back" once they join the EU; and skeptical EU members would be able to swallow the new enlargement more easily. However, Srđan Majstorović recalls that Commission head Ursula von der Leyen promised this new framework for enlargement by the end of last year, but that nothing came of it. This is discouraging, he says, but also logical in an era when the world is divided into those who believe in liberal democracy and those who believe in force. The EU wants to be among the first, so it can hardly be expected, Majstorović adds, to accept any non-democratic states into membership. Our interlocutor expects the impetus for EU enlargement to come from a completely different direction – the far north. Namely, Icelanders could hold a referendum on EU membership next year. Under the influence of Donald Trump's policies and claims to "nearby" Greenland, polls suggest that a majority of Icelanders finally support membership. Bonus video: Next Stay Close ✕ -- http:www.antic.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SERBIAN NEWS NETWORK" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/senet/PH0PR13MB544628F47BDE6F678BA0E44BAE77A%40PH0PR13MB5446.namprd13.prod.outlook.com.
