Garčević Publishes Op-Ed on Balkans and EU Membership
Ambassador Vesko Garčević, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a Deutche Welle (DW) op-ed on the Balkans and their hopes of membership in the European Union (EU).
The article, titled “Балкан: Регион изгубен во лавиринтот на ЕУ (The Region Lost in the EU Maze), discusses the relationship between Western Balkans (WB) countries and the EU, the role of the United States, and misdoings of the regional political elites. It argues that the WB/EU relationship resembles a slow fade – like partners who don’t fully trust each other, although they still talk about their common future. It highlights the importance of the U.S. as a corrective factor to the EU policies in the region.
Garčević also argues that the WB’s prospects of EU membership appear further away than ever. While Germany is still open to negotiations with Macedonia and Albania, Brussels has shifted it’s focus away from enlargement to focus on more pressing matters plaguing the European Commission.
The full article can be read on DW‘s website. An English version is available on the Macedonian Information Agency‘s (MIA) website.
During his diplomatic career, Ambassador Vesko Garčević dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He had been a Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as a Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the faculty at the Pardee School. Learn more about him here.