EU’s Rejection Speeds Emigration From West Balkans, Leader Says

(Bloomberg) --

Depriving western Balkan countries of a clear chance to join the European Union risks speeding up the already alarming pace of people emigrating away from the region, North Macedonia’s president said.

Stevo Pendarovski said that France’s decision to block the opening of accession talks with his country and Albania -- and President Emmanuel Macron’s insistence that there should be tougher rules for prospective members -- has only intensified a feeling of betrayal in Europe’s most volatile region.

And with living standards stagnating, more people are leaving countries that are already suffering from shrinking populations and political disappointment.

“If I weren’t president, I would myself move out of my country,” Pendarovski said over the weekend in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad. Average net salaries of about 400 euros ($440) a month meant young people in North Macedonia don’t want to “waste the only life they have while negotiations with the EU take years and years,” he said.

Macron’s rejection of entry talks was a particular blow to North Macedonia, which undertook a politically fraught name-change this year to resolve a dispute with its neighbor Greece. Athens had demanded the change to unblock its veto of the country’s membership in the EU and NATO.

Besides Albania, the other western Balkan EU aspirants are Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are now mulling the creation of their own economic union while “being kept in the EU’s waiting room,” Pendarovski said.

The cool reception from established EU members is also raising concern that the bloc is losing clout as China, Russia and Turkey push to increase their influence in the bloc’s backyard.

“The European Union keeps coming up with new bureaucratic obstacles, making the road longer and more difficult,” Pendarovski said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Misha Savic in Belgrade at msavic2@bloomberg.net;Slav Okov in Sofia at sokov@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Irina Vilcu at isavu@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Andrea Dudik

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