The EU and the Western Balkans: it is a complete impasse?

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In her annual State of the Union Address, Ursula von der Leyen named the countries which have to join the European Union as soon as possible. Among them, President von der Leyen highlighted Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. The potential candidacy of these three post-Soviet states is naturally enhanced by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on the EU’s immediate border. On the other hand, the Western Balkan (WB) countries – who had waited long for EU membership – only mentioned by the European Commission (EC) President as an unspecified block. This tells a lot about the EU’s own commitment to this region.