Hahn for Financial Times: The EU insulted years of Commission’s work by not opening talks with Skopje


Фото: Б. Грданоски

In an interview with Financial Times, outgoing EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn reiterated his disappointment that EU member states failed to agree that North Macedonia and Albania should be given the green light to start EU accession talks.

According to Hahn, the failure came exactly at a time when the EU should have really reinforced its efforts to become a stronger global player, since losing influence in a region so close to it, both historically and geographically would leave space for China and Russia’s influence.

“Most painful was the fact that the EU did not demonstrate the principle of partnership and accountability which we are always preaching and on which we could always rely,” Hahn said.

He vented frustration that Paris scuppered opening talks with North Macedonia, even after it reached a deal with Greece on the extremely sensitive issue of its name, Financial Times reports.

Hahn said this insulted the years the Commission spent laying the political framework for an agreement and sent the wrong message to regional leaders.

“The accession process is merit-based and if we don’t acknowledge progress there will be no incentive for reforms,” he pointed out.

The outgoing EU Commissioner revealed to Financial Times that shortly after the decision to block accession, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told him it was “unclear why he should, after recent developments, be motivated to enter into negotiations” with Prishtina. According to Financial Times, such sentiments are a blow to the EU, which has spent almost a decade trying to mediate talks between Belgrade and Pristina.

Despite the dramatic end of his mandate, Mr Hahn said that he was proud of the progress made during his tenure in improving the ties between the countries in the region. He noted that the EU had invested almost EUR 1billion in the region through interconnectivity funds since 2015 and said interregional trade had grown 20 percent. He also lauded a plan to end roaming fees for the region’s mobile phone users by 2021 based on the EU’s model, and praised the regional initiative to pledge to lift non-tariff barriers to trade.