Hypocritical policy of the EU towards North Macedonia

Written for Kosovo Online by: Zeljko Sajn

The Balkans have historically been a place of confrontation between various cultures and interests, which often produced fierce conflicts, most notably remembered as the First and Second World Wars, as well as the conflict that arose from the breakup of Yugoslavia and the collapse of socialist social systems in Europe, when allies in two great wars became bitter enemies. Neither the end of the Cold War nor the fall of the Berlin Wall brought humanity closer to achieving a new, positive, and sustainable international order. The wars in Gaza and Ukraine, along with the growing tension in the Balkans, are part of our daily reality and a source of concern that a global Third World War is knocking on the door of modern humanity.

Although peace is a universal, timeless need for every individual and nation, it seems that achieving it has never been more difficult. How to persuade conflicting parties to cease armed fire and at least attempt to resolve their disputes through dialogue at the negotiating table is a question that troubles the whole world, and for which an answer is eagerly awaited.

The United States has a key role in creating world peace, emphasized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, adding that if Americans want peace to prevail in the world, they must elect a president who will fight for peace. Orban expressed this view in Ohrid, where he was on a two-day official visit.

Orban's host was the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski, along with his ministers. The prime ministers held a joint session of their governments, which – we can freely say – was reassuring. Namely, it was expected that an intergovernmental conference between the EU Commission and the Government of North Macedonia, led by Mickoski, would take place. Instead, Hungary, as the EU's presiding country, held a bilateral government session following the Brussels decision not to allow North Macedonia further progress in accession talks with the EU, as it failed to meet the condition set by Bulgaria.

Mickoski, let us recall, sought a guarantee that there would be no further demands after another constitutional amendment and the inclusion of Bulgarians in this document, but the EU did not accept this type of guarantee. Viktor Orban commented on Brussels' decision not to approve North Macedonia's accession talks due to its failure to meet Bulgaria's condition with deep regret: "This is a historical mistake that could be doubled, as the country will be placed behind Albania, for which I see no reason. The challenge for the government will be to fight against this unfair stance."

Namely, Albania has been extracted from the package of accession talks with North Macedonia, and the EU will treat Albania's accession independently. In this context, it is worth recalling that Albanian MPs and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as various political circles, once pointed out that if North Macedonia does not accept the path of European integration by changing the Constitution, and Albania is granted accession talks, Albanians from North Macedonia will seek a solution for themselves. There were even hints of forming an independent municipality in the western part of North Macedonia and fighting for accession talks outside of the state. Is this a tailwind from the EU towards the realization of Demaçi's, and now Kurti's, idea of a so-called Greater Albania, especially during such a tense atmosphere in the Balkans?

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, although he disagrees with Kurti's political views, hinted that his country would transform the Islamic Sufi order Bektashi, based in Tirana, into a sovereign state. It is not excluded that this could be another step towards the common long-standing latent goal of forming a so-called Greater Albania, which will also be joined by Albanians from North Macedonia, who already consider Kurti the president of all Albanians.

Let us recall, when Kurti received such a title in Tetovo, the international community did not react, but from experience, we know that silence is a form of support, which strengthened Kurti to imperatively rush forward toward his goal. On one hand, he narrows political sovereignty and territorial integrity for Serbs in Kosovo, just as human rights were curtailed for Russians in Ukraine, and on the other hand, he arms himself to full capacity, which international forces also turn a blind eye to.

The European Union is conducting a clearly hypocritical policy towards North Macedonia, continuously imposing new conditions for its admission into the community since its independence. Even after changing the Constitution and the country's name through the Prespa Agreement, North Macedonia has not made a single step closer to EU membership. Another constitutional change is now demanded at Bulgaria's request, and it is uncertain whether this will be the last obstacle on its path to accession. All of this has naturally caused great dissatisfaction among the Macedonian people, even certain aversion toward the EU, and an increasing inclination toward the East, even though the national leadership officially maintains a NATO course and aligns its foreign policy with that of the EU. This is evidenced by its support for Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, where Russia is characterized as the aggressor.

As the Ukrainian-Russian conflict continues unabated, the world fears a global Third World War. Just eight months before Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine began, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated in an interview with "Politika":

"It is entirely true that today we face the most unpredictable security situation in many years. There is an increasingly aggressive Russia, cyber and hybrid threats, instability throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and the ongoing terrorist threat. In response to this, NATO is rapidly implementing the largest adjustment of collective defense since the Cold War. Thus, in a world that is becoming increasingly unpredictable, NATO is as important as it has always been."

The Alliance has been safeguarding the security of our countries for seventy years. The strong bond between Europe and North America has made NATO the strongest alliance in history. The fact that we will soon accept North Macedonia as the 30th member shows that NATO is a successful alliance. Successive rounds of expansion have proven that NATO, even after 70 years, continues to attract interest and remains a positive force for maintaining the international order."

However, these very successive rounds of expansion led to the military conflict on Ukrainian territory, which was prepared through the Minsk agreements. Namely, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Hollande confirmed that the Minsk agreements served the West to prepare for a war with the Russian Federation. Now, if the statesmen who made these statements were also signatories of the Minsk agreements along with Russia and Ukraine, we have every right to wonder whether the Brussels Agreement has the same kind of background and function.

Although Macedonian statesmen are confident that there can be no conflict in NATO member states, including in North Macedonia itself, the function of the Minsk agreements, the hypocritical policies of NATO, the EU, and especially France and Germany, justify the fear that the Brussels Agreement with its Ohrid annex may have similarities to the role of the Minsk agreements for NATO, the EU, and the US.

The fact is that the Brussels Agreement has not brought any concrete progress since it was signed in 2013. Not in a single point. The results achieved do not indicate any advancement in the peace negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, but rather an increasingly tense atmosphere. NATO member states are arming Kosovo’s security forces, although this is neither in line with Resolution 1244, nor morally or legally justified. NATO members, aside from pressing for Kosovo's independence declaration, are preparing Kosovo for a serious military conflict through commercial military means, even though KFOR was established to maintain peace in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, as per UN Security Council Resolution 1244. The smell of arms is becoming more intense and ominous.

What can the Western Balkans expect from the European Union when it has repeatedly shown the strength of its hypocritical policies? The Republic of North Macedonia has been burned by this hypocrisy multiple times, meeting EU demands to gain entry under its protection, yet no matter what it does, new demands are imposed, keeping it in a dead-end. It struggled hard to become NATO’s 30th member, yet to this day has no right to accession negotiations with the EU, as Bulgaria now blocks its Euro-integration process, demanding yet another constitutional amendment so that its people become a constituent element in the highest act of the Macedonian state. Naturally, the EU supported its member, forgetting the promises it made to Macedonia with the signing of the Prespa Agreement.

North Macedonia not only remains trapped by new conditions on its path to the EU, but Europe’s stance has opened up a new problem, further endangering the political and security situation in the country. The open question now is how long Albanians will remain patient and maintain peace in this area while waiting for North Macedonia's state decision, or if this will challenge them to take the next step toward the unification of Albanians into one state, a goal being lobbied for by former American intelligence officer and architect of the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, William Walker.

It is also important to emphasize that, even before Brussels' decision to halt accession negotiations with North Macedonia, journalists reported that DUI – the former ruling party, now in opposition – was preparing unrest, which greatly unsettled citizens, given that the world is already in a warlike situation, and the Balkans have always been a "powder keg" and a potential spark for the start of conflicts between opposing sides.
The creation of a stable and sustainable international order and the much-desired peace will certainly be preceded by finding a balance of interests among the great powers. We can only hope that this path will be shorter than what the actions of the major powers, including the West's hypocritical policy, seem to suggest, which undoubtedly affects relations in the Western Balkans.

Orban recently hinted that Europe is abandoning the defense of its own interests, stating that everything Europe does today is an unconditional following of the pro-democratic foreign policy of the United States, even at the cost of self-destruction. He also pointed to the dominance of countries from the global south, such as China, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia, saying: "A change is coming, one not seen in 500 years. What we are facing is actually a shift in the world order."

If his words are accurate, and there is no reason not to believe him as a political veteran, then it can be expected that Europe will face the consequences of its hypocritical policy in the new global division of the world, similar to the time 325 years ago when the Treaty of Karlowitz was signed. That period marked the beginnings of new territorial shifts that took on a new form after the Great War. Therefore, believing Orban, we can expect a new global multipolar geopolitical division, in which the West's hypocritical policy will have historical consequences for the Old Continent, primarily through a new religious incursion that will threaten the territorial integrity of Christianity.

All these examples of the West's hypocritical policy, along with the Brussels Agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, only intensify the dread of aggressive battles over interests on the world stage and the fear that the war machine may also be at our doorstep. To put an end to the spread of war and the fear of nuclear conflict, a roundtable dialogue is necessary, just as the opposing sides in the Great Turkish War found a compromise and signed the Treaty of Karlowitz 325 years ago.