Prenkaj: Ottawa is turning toward Brussels, but Canada is difficult to compare with the Western Balkans

Diplomat and former Kosovo ambassador Albert Prenkaj assessed that the possibility of Canada's associate membership in the EU cannot be compared with the Western Balkans, but that the idea of integrating the Western Balkans as a package would be of geostrategic importance to the EU, which would complete the economic and security chapter of the new world order.

In a written response to Kosovo Online, Prenkaj pointed out that growing trade tensions between the United States and Canada had forced Ottawa to diversify its strategic and economic reliance.

“The initiative of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who officially offered Canada the status of the first ‘associate member’ in the history of the EU, was accepted by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who called this strategic shift an ‘alliance of the future’. Ottawa is turning toward Brussels with the intention of reducing its economic and geopolitical dependence on Washington,” Prenkaj pointed out.

He explained that the elements of Canada's “associate membership” in the EU include several very important areas – critical raw materials and energy, security and defense, which allows Canada to become the first non-European country to join the European instrument for joint defense procurement, SAFE, innovation technologies (AI), as well as the free movement of people. In addition, Canada has signed a Strategic Partnership for the Future and a Security and Defense Partnership with the EU (Strategic Defence Strategy).

“The question of whether this shift in EU cooperation is a model for Western Balkan countries that are negotiating integration, particularly the initiative by Albania and Serbia to gain access to the unified Schengen area, is a very interesting topic for consideration. While Canada is experiencing economic tensions with the United States, the Western Balkans are facing internal problems in individual countries, as well as disagreements between countries in the region,” Prenkaj said.

Regarding Albania, he recalled that in the middle of the year it managed to open all key negotiating clusters and receive a positive Interim Benchmark Assessment Report (IBAR), which formally brings it into the final phase of negotiations, with the ambition of closing all chapters and aiming for full EU membership, while Montenegro experienced a procedural slowdown and a delay in closing new negotiating chapters “due to complex technical procedures and the need for internal consultations within the member states”.

“Serbia's standstill consists of a long-standing failure to align its foreign policy with Brussels, including not imposing sanctions on Russia, as well as insufficient progress in the area of the rule of law and the judiciary. When it comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina, dialogue with the EU has been slowed primarily because of internal political divisions along ethnic lines, institutional dysfunction and the unwillingness of domestic leaders to implement key reforms,” Prenkaj analyzes.

The European integration process of North Macedonia, he added, has also slowed and has been at a standstill for years, primarily because of the bilateral dispute with Bulgaria, which formally became part of the EU negotiating framework, while the process is also being slowed by the pace of domestic reforms within the country itself.

“And, despite officially submitting its application for EU membership in December 2022 and its current status as a potential candidate, Kosovo continues to face internal problems in establishing state institutions, as well as a lack of coordination with the international community, which has resulted in EU measures, as well as the suspension of strategic dialogue with the United States,” Prenkaj said.

According to him, beyond internal shortcomings or weaknesses, the Western Balkans is characterized by difficult relations – “tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, a mutual blockade of negotiations, disagreements between Montenegro and Croatia over Prevlaka, Bulgaria's insistence that the Constitution of North Macedonia be amended, accusations that Serbia is interfering in the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, tense relations between Montenegro and Serbia, with accusations of interference and destabilization”.

From all of this, he concludes that it is very difficult to compare Canada with the Western Balkans, which, as he puts it, is a region “still lacking cohesion in terms of mutual relations, as well as in its relationship with Brussels itself”.

“I mentioned at one of my public appearances that the idea of integrating the Western Balkans as a package – ‘standards with a statute’ – is of geostrategic importance to the European Union itself, which would complete the economic and security chapter of the new world order,” Prenkaj concluded.