LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: Serbia strengthens its international position (RTS/Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that the preservation and protection of territorial integrity, European integration and the promotion of cooperation with countries around the world are the main foreign policy goals of Serbia. At a session of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Serbian parliament, Dacic presented the report on the work of the line ministry for the period from May 2018 to 1 February 2019, stressing that our country strengthened its international position. He pointed out that the Ministry is making great efforts to reduce the number of countries that recognize Kosovo’s independence and announced new withdrawals of that recognition. According to Dacic, our country should maintain and establish contacts with smaller and less influential countries in the world so that they would, among other things, vote in favor of Serbia at international forums. Since this year there will again be voting at the sessions of UNESCO and Interpol, Dacic underlined that Kosovo no longer has a majority support to gain admission into important international organizations. “Many officials would rather go to Brussels than to Burundi, but, trust me, it’s nicer in Burundi, because they like us there. These are our friendly countries where none of us went for twenty years,” Dacic said. “It is therefore important that we keep in touch with all these countries in order to have a stable situation regarding those who would vote for our proposals,” Dacic said. Dacic said that Kosovo cannot be a member of the OSCE, while it is possible they might apply for membership in the Council of Europe, which would be most difficult to prevent since most member states recognize Kosovo. “We are monitoring the situation in the Council of Europe,” Dacic said. Dacic also announced new withdrawals of recognition of Kosovo, but did not want to specify which countries this concerned, adding it happens that ahead of his talks with some countries on their withdrawal of recognition, those countries come under pressure from the United States not to do so. The Minister said that out of 193 UN member-states, 91 countries certainly did not recognize Kosovo, and that of the 102 remaining ones, there are several countries that for a long time, although they recognized Kosovo, have not voted in international forums in favor of Kosovo, such as Egypt, and Oman. “To have the majority, we need six more countries, I think they already have less than half, but I’m not satisfied by somebody telling me, ‘we did not recognize’, we need papers,” Dacic said. The Minister said that Serbia pays special attention to countries in the Caribbean and in the Pacific, as well as in Africa and Asia. “Those 13 countries that have revoked their recognition have a total of 55 to 60 million people and together about a million square kilometers of land, which is also 13 votes in the United Nations,” said Dacic. Speaking about the security situation, Dacic said that Serbia is working to harmonize the text of a new individual partnership plan with NATO and reiterated that Serbia wants to have better relations with the alliance, and is currently at the highest level that one country can be on, without wanting to become a member. When it comes to visa abolition, Dacic said that the visa-free regime of Serbia with the EU is not under threat, although the EU is warning Serbia not to abolish visas to some countries, i.e., to be aligned with EU visa policy. “It creates problems for us, because our friends are not at the same time their friends,” Dacic said. He said that there were problems with Iran, which whom Serbia first abolished and then reintroduced visas after EU intervention, because a number of Iranian citizens who came to Serbia had not returned home but rather have tried to go further into the EU. “But it wasn’t 100,000 people that entered our country, it was 45,000, and 22,000, 23,000 left – well it’s not like ten thousand people will flood the entire continent,” Dacic noted, adding that this was also an attempt to exert political pressure.

Drecun: US harshening stand towards Pristina (RTS)

The Chairperson of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun has told Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that Washington has the strongest influence on Pristina. He says there has been damage from taxes on goods from Serbia proper and B&H that are measured with dozens of millions of Euros. However, the damage has been inflicted primarily on the survival of the Serb people. “Everything is on the border of safety. Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has managed to, with the introduction of taxes, postpone the dialogue and impose himself among the harder electoral body,” says Drecun, adding that Kosovo President Hashim Thaci showed himself as more reliable. According to him, Haradinaj was not granted US visa, which is a symbolic move, but it disables him from making contacts. Also, an important message is coming from the Iowa National Guard because they need Washington’s support for the formation of the Kosovo army. Drecun says Pristina will not be able to realize its maximalist goals. “Thaci announced he would not discuss Northern Mitrovica, Gazivode and Trepca. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Pristina not to attempt to place under control either Gazivode or Trepca,” notes Drecun. First their appeared reports from Pristina that Haradinaj is ready for outvoting if some of the ministers proposes abolishment of taxes. However, he denied this, saying there is no chance of this being placed on the agenda as long as he determines it. International pressures are in the context of resumption of dialogue, while we didn’t have, until two days ago, for the US to so harshly warn Pristina. Drecun considers that if Haradinaj’s government doesn’t yield, that it could lead to a collapse. “They passed the decision on taxes unanimously. Now they wish to resolve the problem through Thaci and his party,” notes Drecun. He says that Washington is harshening the stand so Haradinaj would be forced to behave rationally. “When it comes to Haradinaj, at issue is a person charged with the harshest crimes. He is allowed to have illegal money flow and the murders of witnesses who was supposed to testify in The Hague,” says Drecun. He stressed that Washington has the strongest influence on Pristina and that Serbia needs to strengthen the international position. Drecun notes that many issues need to be resolved in order to reach talks on the final status of Kosovo. “We need to meet the needs of the Albanians, so they can see that Serbia wishes to integrate them,” said Drecun, adding it is good they had been warned that they must not implement any activities in northern Kosovo.

Moscow: Organ trafficking in Kosovo must be processed (Tanjug/Sputnik)

Moscow says that in the investigation into the cases of kidnapping people for illegal trafficking in their organs in Kosovo has produced no results, Sputnik reports. Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Maria Zakharova reminded at a regular briefing for journalists that in 2017, a special court were set up under the auspices of the European Union to investigate the crimes of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) including, among others, the abduction of people for the subsequent sale of their organs in the black market. According to her, the impulse for the establishment of this court was the report of then Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Dick Marty, published in 2010. “However, this structure has produced no results. No indictment has been issued yet,” Zakharova stressed. In a recent interview, the former Swiss senator and Council of Europe rapporteur on trafficking in human organs, Dick Marty, expressed concern that the perpetrators will remain unpunished. “We are convinced that it is unacceptable to cover up the most horrible crimes in Kosovo. The topic of illegal trafficking in human organs should remain fully in public attention,” Zaharova stressed.

Agreement between Serbia and US on extradition confirmed (RTV/Tanjug/Beta)

The Serbian parliament adopted on Thursday an agreement with the US on extradition of the citizens accused of crimes punishable with over a year jail term, Beta reported. The agreement will cover crimes committed before and after it comes in force. However, an executive body will have the right to deny extradition for crimes committed before 1 January 2005, if the evidence is not sufficient or if an offence is not treated as a crime in both countries. The documents do not allow the extradition in case of a political crime, while it applies to murder, intentional attack against physical integrity, serious bodily injuries, kidnapping, a crime against gender freedom, organized crime, as well as crimes involving planting, usage or possession of explosives, biological, chemical or radioactive substances. The agreement was signed during the visit by former US Vice President Joseph Biden in 2016 and the US Senate passed it in 2018.

It replaced the Convention between the Kingdom of Serbia and the US signed in Belgrade in October 1901. The new agreement will apply to the backlog requests made in line with the 1901 Convention. The US Embassy said on Wednesday that the old document had been updated to enable Serbia and America to more efficiently fight the international crimes, including terrorism, different forms of violent crimes, drug trade, human trafficking, cybercrime and money laundry.

REGIONAL PRESS

Dodik: I expect government formed within month (Srna)

Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Presidency Chair Milorad Dodik voiced expectations that the Council of Ministers will be formed within the next 30 days. “We have completely consolidated our situation in Republika Srpska (RS) and we are ready for negotiations and talks,” Dodik told the press on Wednesday.  According to the information he has, the Croats did the same and elements of the potential talks were known. “What remains to be done is to define and consolidate the Bosniak political structure at the B&H State level. Bearing in mind that all that has become crystal clear in the past few days, I believe we will have a new Council of Ministers within a month at least,” said Dodik, who is the leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD).

SDA and HDZ discuss formation of government (N1)

After a coalition made of left-leaning multi-ethnic parties refused to join forces with the main Bosniak Party for Democratic Action (SDA), the party leadership entered negotiations with the Bosnian Croat nationalist party, the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ), on how to form a government. The meeting went by in “a good atmosphere” SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic told reporters. “We also spoke about priorities we need to focus on, B&H’s path toward the EU, B&H’s path toward NATO, the swift creation of new jobs, the development of infrastructure and the halting of the trend of youth leaving the country,” he said. Izetbegovic estimated that the House of Peoples could be formed in the first half of next week. HDZ leader Dragan Covic said that cooperation between the two parties is necessary, but that the relationship between them was damaged over the past year and a half. “We are convinced that the (EU) candidate status should have been awarded to B&H last year,” Covic said. He also said the parties agreed that the government should be formed immediately and that there is no reason for anyone setting any conditions as this would harm everybody.

EP concerned over slowdown in B&H, calls for swift government formation (N1)

The European Parliament (EP) expressed concern over a slowdown in the implementation of reforms in B&H and called for the swift formation of authorities following the October 2018 general election, according to a report the EU top institution adopted on Wednesday. The report which assesses the progress B&H has lately made on the road to possible accession to the EU warned that since mid-2017 there was “a noticeable slowdown” in the adoption of EU-related reforms, despite the country’s commitment to it. “The European Parliament reiterates the need for B&H to proceed with constitutional, political and electoral reforms to transform the country into a fully effective, inclusive and functional state based on the rule of law,” said the report which was adopted with 468 votes. 123 MEPs voted against it and 83 abstained. The EP remains a strong supporter of B&H’s EU integration but the country must prove its commitment to that goal, said Special Rapporteur for B&H, Cristian Dan Preda, who prepared the report. He also pointed out that the post-election government formation must be completed soon. “Authorities at all levels must swiftly be formed so that work can restart on a set of new EU-oriented reforms, both economic but also political reforms,” he said, adding, “If B&H wants to obtain candidate country status soon, it needs to show not only commitment to the EU path, but also concrete results.” EU lawmakers also addressed political leaders and institutions in B&H, asking them to show responsibility while assessing the wartime events of the 1990s and said the Parliament “deplores any kind of glorification of persons convicted of crimes against humanity.” While addressing the EP a day before during a discussion on the document, European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner Johannes Hahn said the report comes at a critical moment when the country’s newly elected leaders need to translate their commitment into reforms. Hahn said the Commission is fully dedicated to advancing B&H’s EU perspective and announced that the upcoming Commission’s opinion on B&H’s membership application will provide a comprehensive roadmap of reforms for the country to carry out. “The Commission will continue to support B&H as we believe that the future of this country lies in the EU,” said Hahn.

Pompeo and Lajcak discussed political situation in B&H (Dnevni avaz)

The US and the EU should remain the closest partners and allies, Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak stated during his meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “We’re not close only from the historical viewpoint but also in terms of values, and at the same time we’re reciprocally the greatest business partners and investors” said the Slovak minister. “Secretary Pompeo asked me about the situation in B&H. I told him that this country was not progressing and that it was necessary to engage the international community strongly. I said that with the impression that with such massive presence that we have with you, and through the European Union, diplomatic missions and organizations, we cannot pretend to have no part of our responsibility,” Lajcak said.

No war reparation discussions with Serbia (Hina)

After a meeting with his Serbian counterpart Nela Kuburovic on Wednesday, Croatian Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic reiterated that he was not that satisfied, with the cooperation between the two ministries over the past year and that war reparation was not discussed.

Bosnjakovic reiterated that at a meeting with the then Serbian justice minister last year, they had defined certain objectives and that at the meeting they evaluated where they were at and what to do next. “I cannot say that I am overly satisfied with the way things have functioned over the past year, but then we have formed two commissions. One was tasked with defining an international agreement regarding processing war crimes and the other was to work on exchanging information about persons against whom criminal proceedings were being conducted or have been convicted. The commissions did work and we can’t say they didn’t, but they haven’t made any recommendations,” Bosnjakovic said. He underlined the wish to intensify meetings between the task forces and that by summer they come up with their recommendations. He explained that an international agreement will define how to regulate war crimes prosecution, adding that it would be above the Law on Jurisdiction that Serbia adopted. He added that Serbia delivered a list of about 70 names of people in Croatia that Serbia has indicted but that they did not have the full list due to technical problems regarding data collection. Croatia however has sent Serbia a list of 1,300 names. Asked whether the ministries’ delegations discussed war reparation, Bosnjakovic said that this was not discussed as that isn’t in the remit of the Justice Ministry but other ministries. During her visit to Croatia, Minister Kuburovic also met with representatives of ethnic Serb minority organizations.

Tajani apologizes after meeting Croatian and Slovenian MEPs (Hina)

After a meeting with Croatian and Slovenian representatives of the European People’s Party (EPP), European Parliament President Antonio Tajani on Wednesday apologized and expressed his deep regret over statements he made in Basovizza at a recent commemoration for the victims of the foibe, karst pits in Istria. “This afternoon I met with MEPs from Croatia and Slovenia who sent me a letter, I sincerely regret and I apologies for having used words that offended your citizens and were perceived as a form of a territorial claim. I assure you that was not my intention, nor my opinion about that issue,” stated Tajani. “My mentioning Istria and Dalmatia was about Istrians and Dalmatians, their children and grandchildren, many of whom attended the ceremony,” Tajani said. “All forms of totalitarianism deserve full condemnation and victims of fascism, Nazism and communism should he treated with equal respect,” Tajani said in his statement. Following an outcry from Slovenian and Croatian politicians, he apologized on Monday saying his comment on the regions was in no way a territorial claim. Tajani’s explanation that his statement in Basovizza where he mentioned Italian Istria and Italian Dalmatia was misinterpreted was not accepted by Croatian and Slovenian members of the European Parliament who said on Tuesday they would ask Tajani to retract his statement and announced the possibility of asking for his resignation less than three months before elections for the European Parliament. Addressing the commemoration for WWII foibe (karst pits) victims in Basovizza near Trieste, Italy, this past Sunday, Tajani said “Long live Trieste, long live Italian Istria, long live Italian Dalmatia”. His statement caused public uproar in Croatia and Slovenia.

Boskovic in Brussels: Montenegro coherently conducts NATO policies (CDM)

Montenegrin Minister of Defense Predrag Boskovic is taking part in this year’s first meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the ministerial level in Brussels. The focus of the meeting will be consideration of attitudes in the field of international security and the necessity of offering comprehensive responses to such challenges. In addition, the attention will be drawn to the do far implementation of directions from the last NATO Summit in Brussels, and next steps in the fulfillment of key tasks related to constant improvement of the system of collective defense. Ministers of Defense of Member States pointed out firm commitment of the Alliance regarding armament control, disarmament and prohibition of the proliferation of mass destruction weapons, as well as important segments that contribute to the maintenance of Euro-Atlantic security.

Minister Boskovic pointed out that Montenegro continues to conduct policies of the Alliance since the union represents an important prerequisite ensuring safety of the territory of the state and its citizens. Progress of Montenegro made in the domain of the adaptation of NATO command structure is remarkable. This will enable fast responses to all kinds of potential challenges and threats. Boskovic said that this year Montenegro will increase contribution in filling positions within the new structure. Montenegro is fully supporting the efforts of NATO put in maintaining peace and stability. Boskovic also met with the Minister of National Defense of Turkey, General Hulusi Akar. He thanked General Akar for the complete support Turkey gives to the reform of defense system of Montenegro. Boskovic pointed out the importance of the implementation of Intergovernmental Agreement on the provision of uniforms for the needs of Ministry of Defense for the period of five years. Boskovic and Akar considered the possibilities of the renewal of the capacities of the Navy and Armed Forces of Montenegro and education of Montenegrin human resources in Turkey.

Germany supports Montenegro’s further EU development (TMN)

Montenegrin Minister of Foreign Affairs Srdjan Darmanovic is paying a working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, at the invitation of German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas.  During the first day of his visit, Minister Darmanovic met with his German counterpart Heiko Maas. “Montenegro is grateful to the Federal Republic of Germany for continuing assistance to the fulfillment of our strategic foreign policy priorities – full membership in NATO and progress in the process of EU accession”, Minister Darmanovic said, adding that Montenegro’s commitment to meeting the Alliance’s key tasks and the criteria for membership in the EU is unquestionable. Minister Darmanovic noted that that German political and expert support in key areas – the rule of law, the fight against organized crime and corruption, judicial system reforms, media freedom, and the strengthening of the security and defence sector – is of particular significance for our country. Furthermore, he pointed to the possibility of stronger economic connectivity, stressing that “Montenegro is very open for a greater presence of German capital in our market and full valorization of potentials for economic cooperation between the two countries.” Minister Maas said that Germany will continue to provide full support to the reform processes and integration of Montenegro into the EU. “Your place is in the European Union, and if you continue this way, success is guaranteed,” he said. Maas stressed that Germany strongly supports the European perspective of the countries of the region and that, in order to strengthen the stability of the whole of Europe, it is crucial that the door of the Union is open. “The Western Balkans is an integral part of Europe, and in that sense, Germany’s support is clear and very strong,” Maas emphasized.  Minister Darmanovic also talked with Foreign Policy Adviser to the Federal Chancellor Jan Hecker. The Minister expressed his belief that the future of the Western Balkans is in the EU and stressed that the success of the enlargement policy is the basis of the long-term stability and security of the region. Both sides pointed out the importance of the European integration process for the further development of the countries of the Western Balkans.

Skopje and Athens inform Guterres on name North Macedonia entry into force (Nezavisen vesnik)

Skopje and Athens sent Tuesday a joint letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres notifying on the date of entry into force of the Final Agreement for the settlement of the differences as described in the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993), the termination of the Interim Accord of 1995, and the establishment of a Strategic Partnership between the Parties. Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that UN Secretariat, UN member states and observer states as well as international organizations will be notified as soon as possible of the name change. After receiving the Note Verbale from Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs informing Skopje that Greece ratified Prespa Agreement and NATO Accession Protocol, the use of new constitutional name Republic of North Macedonia officially comes into force.

Bulgarian government endorses Macedonia’s NATO Accession Protocol (Nezavisen vesnik)

The Bulgarian government has endorsed the NATO Accession Protocol of the Republic of North Macedonia. The government has forwarded the document to the parliament for the purpose of its ratification. Greece and Slovenia have already ratified the protocol, while Albania is expected to follow suit on Thursday.

Sekerinska attends her first NATO ministerial, refers to Macedonia as “North Macedonia” (Republika)

Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska attended a NATO ministerial meeting, in the capacity of a silent invitee, after NATO prepared an accession protocol for Macedonia, which has so far been ratified by Greece and Slovenia. Sekerinska quoted Churchill to say that this is “the end of the beginning” and expressed her gratitude to be allowed to sit at the meeting. “The Alliance can count on us, as a full member, to be capable and prepared to give our contribution to the collective mission to protect and defend our shared democratic values” she said. Sekerinska promised that Macedonia will increase its military budget, which is currently barely over 1 percent of GDP, to the requisite two percent over a period of years. She used the name “Republic of North Macedonia” to refer to her country during the ministerial. “The open doors for the Republic of North Macedonia are proof that the NATO Alliance is a dynamic, forward looking institution which can withstand the modern challenges, as it did 70 years ago. The Republic of North Macedonia is with you and I look forward to our shared future,” said Sekerinska.

During the meeting she met with the defense ministers of Bulgaria, Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as with Greek Defense Minister Evangelos Apostolakis, who said that he discussed ways to increase defense cooperation and promised that Greece will help Macedonia integrate into NATO. Greece blocked Macedonia’ NATO membership in 2008, over the name dispute, and maintained this position until the Prespa treaty was forced through both Parliaments earlier this year.

Two days of national mourning declared (Republika)

The tragedy on Wednesday afternoon, when a bus with 50 passengers slid off the Skopje – Tetovo highway, killing 14 on board, caused an outpouring of grief across Macedonia.

President Gjorge Ivanov expressed his deepest condolences to the families of those killed and wished that the injured recover fully. Two days of mourning were declared – the 14th and the 15th of February.  Expressions of sorrow came from abroad as well. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov joined in the condolences to the families of those killed. The names of the killed are still withheld from the public, but the SDSM party confirmed that its member of Parliament Blagojce Trpevski lost his son Jovica (25).

Xhacka to meet with Defense Ministers in Brussels (ADN)

Albanian Minister of Defense Olta Xhacka met on Wednesday with NATO ministers and started two days of talks on pressing security challenges, including Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The ministerial conference is taking place on February 13, 14 in which ministers will discuss efforts to strengthen the Alliance’s deterrence and defence, and review NATO missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq and the maritime area. Burden-sharing and NATO-EU cooperation will also be high on the agenda. Finally, Ministers will conclude with a discussion on NATO-EU cooperation and efforts to strengthen the European pillar within NATO. The Secretary General repeated his support for European “efforts that complement and do not compete” with NATO.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

How migration crisis has damaged the EU integration of the Western Balkans (European Western Balkans, by Michal Vit, 14 February 2019)

It might sound as a too sharp title, but we should start paying attention, as the article suggests, to the critical but overlooked topic of what the impact of the politically closed so-called Balkan route is and how “the others” benefit on the crisis. Looking on the migration crisis in the Western Balkans from a bit broader perspective, one finds two very interesting elements. Firstly, there is very little media attention to movers of migration crisis in the Western Balkans. Secondly, how other countries that execute its influence over the Western Balkans are surprisingly quiet when it comes to migration. Looking on the EU role in the migration crisis, it would be very naïve to think that EU institutions as well as EU countries are not aware of the situation in which all involved parties takes short term financial and political benefits connected to (miss) management of the migrant crisis. Since the Balkan route is “closed”, the EU and EU countries pay only very little attention to the situation on the ground and local actors take benefits from the situation. This is not only the case of the EU represented by the European Commission that relies largely on decisions made by member states but also of other EU bodies including Frontex and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, under which the protection of the EU external border is coordinated. When we put political distrust into the EU system (such as non-functioning of Schengen system and questionable substance of information shared between EU Member States, Frontex agency and cooperating Western Balkan countries), what can we expect from the Western Balkan countries? Under the term distrust is meant limited ability to determine the key political challenges such as to acknowledge that the organized crime is the biggest problem of migration crisis and it is not coped with appropriate policies. A lot is spoken about the political cooperation, but very little about its substance and impact term of sharing information and cooperation when it comes to organized crime in connection to smuggling and human trafficking. In exchange for keeping the facade of stability when it comes to migration, the EU has allowed to develop a space in which rule of law is just a claim with an empty meaning. There seems to be no political will to solve this problem neither/both from the EU side, nor from Western Balkan side. The migrant crisis in the Western Balkans is used as a justification of different political goals such as politicization of islamisation and influence of foreign cultures on societies in domestic context like in Hungary or Austria. Furthermore, it would be extremely naïve to think that Western Balkan leaders are not very well informed about the substance of the EU and EU countries response to the migrant crisis. This can be demonstrated on the issue of reform of Schengen system where EU member states seek rather short-term political goals instead of focusing on substance, among others effective sharing of information about asylum applicants. Going further, they have very well accommodated into the framework in which the political narrative of the EU integration is developed upon a totally different meaning. In this context the question should be asked, if the progress of EU integration can be materialized in exchange for keeping stability when it comes to the migration crisis. This would require significant change of substance of EU integration when shifting emphasis from rule of law towards security. This would make Western Balkans countries sort of guardians of the EU. In exchange, the EU would have to offer tangible gains and benefits. In this sense, it would mean that the EU integration should be perceived without transformative aims. Yet another very interesting point should be discussed – what it the role of other actors of international politics when it comes to the migration crisis in the Western Balkans? There is interestingly relatively little knowledge regarding the way how China, Russia, or even Turkey approach the migration crisis. One could even say that these countries do not pay significant attention to the issue, that either they do not want to be involved in often value based debates, or they perceive the migration crisis as a relatively non-significant element of mutual relations with Western Balkan countries. In this logic the current substance of migration crisis shows that organized crime networks often overlap with well-established networks that pass the Balkans towards EU for decades. Therefore, the migrant crisis is not significantly new element that they should pay attention to. From their perspective, the migration crisis is not an issue that would threaten their interests and that would rewrite power set up among Western Balkan countries and towards the EU. From a different perspective, their relative silence can be understood as being a non-issue in comparison to the EU priorities. In their perspective, following patterns of organized crime shows strong connection with the EU as being a final destination and therefore the migration crisis has been pretty much an EU issue and not a global one as they perceive their thinking.

In any case, the migration crisis has proven to the current political leadership of the Western Balkan countries that the EU is willing to exchange ideas for stability very quickly and as a consequence, they do not have to feel obliged to be Europeanized by EU structures. It has to be said that it is not a failure of the EU as an institution. As the recent French and Dutch veto on opening negotiations with Albania and Macedonia showed, it is a responsibility of the member states what kind of political relevance they give to the enlargement process. Looking at the recent developments, everyone can make a picture for her/himself that the narrative of EU as value based community is weakening. Said that, the migration crisis thus opened space to perceive relationship with the Western Balkans and vice versa as a zero-sum game as countries like China, Russia, or Turkey do for long time. It shifts the EU integration from value-based negotiations towards very rational bargaining on financial and power benefits as the substance of international politics.