For the last two days, I participated in a conference organized by MCC dedicated to the Western Balkans and the prospects of the next EU enlargement. I took part in two panels: the first one dedicated to Euroatlantic Integration of the Western Balkans, and the second one dedicated to Security Challenges, Extremism, and Radicalization of the region.
My position is consistent with my research agenda, which treats the entire Balkan Region as an island of peace and security that has overcome its dark chapters of history from the 1990s. I argued that the 2023 skirmishes on the Serbian-Kosovar borderland had a local character and should be treated as an anomaly. These skirmishes overshadow the fact that the region has undergone tremendous transformation over the last twenty years. I emphasized that the Western Balkan countries are ready to become EU member states and that most of these countries meet the Copenhagen criteria and should be treated as priority candidates. The only way to minimize the growing Russian, Chinese, and Turkish influence in the region is to admit Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the EU.
In the second panel dedicated to Security Challenges and Extremism in the region, I emphasized that the Western Balkans, and Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular, are no longer a hotbed of terrorism. This problem is of historical nature. In fact, the region was flooded with foreign fighters/mujahedeen who helped the local Muslims protect themselves from genocidal policies inflicted on them by Serbian authorities. However, Bosnia or any other Balkan country is not a primary area of their activity. It can be claimed that al-Qaeda and ISIS used Bosnia and Herzegovina as a recruitment ground for their operations in Syria and Iraq, but the country itself is not a primary area of their operation. Terrorists from ISIS, al-Qaeda, or Boko Haram have moved their main training camps and areas of operation to lawless areas of the Syrian-Iraqi borderland, or the Afghan-Pakistani borderland, Afghanistan, as well as Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mali, Cameroon, Yemen, and the North Caucasus. The terrorist attacks organized in Western Europe and the United States are predominantly organized by lone wolves who are radicalized not by their local communities but through the dark web.
So, all in all, colleagues from Western Europe could learn a great deal from the Security Services operating in the Balkans. These arguments should disarm any Western skeptical approaches. It is high time to change the narrative about the Western Balkans' place in the EU and recognize that without the Western Balkans, the project of European Integration will never be completed. Delaying the accession of Western Balkan countries for another 10 or 20 years would undoubtedly invite external powers to exploit this region, fermenting unrest and exacerbating nationalistic conflicts.
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