The European Union’s 27 member states have launched an important summit in Tirana with the leaders of six Western Balkan countries to strengthen a partnership that has come to be seen as more important in Russia’s war against Ukraine. ” and “live up to expectations”. One of the objectives of this summit will be precisely to “confirm a new phase in relations between the EU and the Western Balkans, which has been in the form of stagnation and frustration on both sides,” says Lukas Mashek, Associate Research Fellow Fellow Jacques Delors Institute The Balkan countries, which have been waiting for years at the gates of the European Union, expressed dissatisfaction with the long and difficult process of accession, after the bloc was quickly granted candidate status for accession to Ukraine and Moldova.
But the war in Ukraine also underlined the importance of European stability in this fragile region of southeastern Europe and countering Russian influence there, as well as Chinese influence, which has invested in the infrastructure of these countries.
Notably, in July the EU finally began accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania (two candidates since 2005 and 2014 respectively), and these talks have also been underway for years with Montenegro and Serbia. In October, the Commission recommended that candidate status be granted to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a decision to be presented to the European Council on 15-16 December. On the other hand, as far as Kosovo is concerned, there are many obstacles to a candidacy. the former Albanian-majority Serbian region declared independence in 2008, which it did not recognize. There are five European Union countries in Belgrade that also do not recognize it: Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, and Slovakia. And in Moscow, adviser to the general director of Rossenergoatom, Rinat Karsha, said yesterday on the air of the Rossiya 24 TV channel: the Russian army has not fired a single bullet, even from small arms, from the inside. the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, since the forces took control of the Russians at st.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said yesterday: Ukraine’s losses in November amounted to more than 8.3 thousand military personnel, 5 aircraft, 10 helicopters, 149 tanks and more than 300 armored vehicles. Shoigu, at a meeting with the leadership of the Russian army, stressed that the Russian armed forces continue to liberate the Donbass, pointing out that Mayorsk, Pavlovka, Obitno, Andreevka, Belogorovka, Yuzhnaya and Kurdyumovka have come under Russian control.
