Russia believes it crucial that the accession of the Balkan counties to the European Union neither harm Moscow's relations with any country in the region nor stir up divisions among them, Yuri Pilipson, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Fourth European Department, told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th November, 2019) Russia believes it crucial that the accession of the Balkan counties to the European Union neither harm Moscow's relations with any country in the region nor stir up divisions among them, Yuri Pilipson, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Fourth European Department, told Sputnik.At a EU summit in October, European leaders failed to agree on whether to begin accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission leader Jean-Claude Juncker have both expressed their disappointment with this decision, while French President Emmanuel Macron has insisted that the European Union itself needed to be reformed first.
"It would not be entirely appropriate to assess the prospects for the Balkan States' advancement toward European integration and make predictions. This issue should be addressed to the 'applicants' themselves and the European Union. For us, it is fundamentally important that their accession to the EU neither harm our bilateral relations nor create obstacles to their future development, and in general not lead to the creation of new or deepening of existing divisions in the region," Pilipson said.
The Balkan region is still perceived in Brussels as a hotbed of geopolitical rivalry, he noted.
Pilipson added that European integration should not be regarded as a universal means of solving all regional problems. The diplomat said that attempts to make this process geopolitical in the Western Balkans might lead to "unhealthy rivalry" and thereby hinder the restoration of good neighborliness.
