Kostic: The EU does not apply the same conditions to Belgrade and Chisinau, Moldova’s integration more urgent

Mijat Kostic, an associate at Novi treci put (New Third Way), told Kosovo Online that the main difference between the issues of Kosovo and Transnistria is that no state officially recognizes the independence of that Moldovan region, emphasizing that the European Union does not impose the same membership conditions on Moldova and Serbia because, as he explained, there is a government in Pristina that is recognized by international actors.

Kostic noted that even Russia, which is presumed to have territorial ambitions there, does not recognize Transnistria’s independence.

“In that sense, there is no legal dispute, unlike Kosovo, whose independence is supported by more than 100 UN member states. Especially when it comes to EU and NATO countries, only four states do not recognize Kosovo’s independence. The context is therefore different, and consequently the overall attitude is different as well. Moldova is not being presented with the same condition that Serbia is, precisely because Kosovo has a government that de facto performs state functions and is recognized by international actors,” he said.

Kostic also referred to the case of Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004 even though the government in Nicosia does not control the part of the territory with a Turkish majority.

“We can see that this model exists in practice and that it probably depends solely on political will and the actors involved, that is, on whether they want to make that issue a priority or not,” he assessed.

Commenting on the statement by European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos that Moldova could continue and accelerate its European integration despite the unresolved issue of Transnistria, Kostic pointed to a similar statement by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, adding that he believes this reflects the EU’s official position rather than the individual views of certain officials.

“I think this is the EU’s official position. The reason why Moldova may currently be much more important than other countries for EU integration is its geopolitical position. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, we have seen fears that Russia has additional territorial ambitions, and therefore Europeans want to consolidate their geopolitical space — for Moldova and Ukraine to eventually join the EU and become part of the common foreign, security, and defense policy,” Kostic stated.

He added that there is also a possibility that Brussels considers Moldova’s European integration more urgent than Serbia’s because of the risk of potential actions by pro-Russian parties in Moldova, as well as the possibility of the country’s population turning toward Moscow.

“When it comes to the Balkans, they believe that issue has, in a way, already been resolved and that Serbia does not represent such a major threat, in the sense that it could completely shift to the Russian side or seriously disrupt the current structure in the Balkans,” Kostic concluded.