How the EU Failed the Western Balkans

[@boristihon4896]

All of the historians agree on only one thing about the Balkans - “It’s complicated”

[@erdibulku6848]

the obsession westerners have with bothsiding conflicts, got us to this point. serbia is the main destabilizing factor in the balkans. they organized a terrorist attack in banjska, kosovo and hailed the killed terrorists as martyrs. they intervened in montenegros election and they are pushing for separatism in bosnia. then Borrell shows up and says "hey you guys are all equally at fault".

[@josipivanic6755]

Balkan is mountain in Bulgaria. It is southeast Europe

[@Lawrence4000-s3k]

I can now see the advantage of Brexit! Why on earth would the UK want to be involved in Balkan shenanigans that are intractable - we made that mistake in 1914 and little has changed.

[@erdibulku6848]

uk is still very much involved because of nato. and you have been involved this entire time.@@Lawrence4000-s3k

[@sovra6734]

​@@erdibulku6848Serbian no like to be nobody, s sheep or slave. They have blood in veins.

[@essential.technology]

Corruption is not on the rise in N.Macedonia, because it has reached the maximum highest possible level. And successfully maintains it.

[@pintiliecatalin]

That's the balkan spirit we all love. Keep it up!

[@essential.technology]

@@pintiliecatalin They will. Thanks

[@dovlaaaable]

I was thinking the same for Serbia, but corruption is defintly getting worse by every day.

[@essential.technology]

@@dovlaaaable In N.Macedonia it can't get any higher. Mathematically is impossible.

[@azulceleste2646]

I had the same thought about Ukraine

[@lkl3210]

Football Manager 2024 tells us they'll join in 2030, with the level of detail they put in their code i wouldn't be surprised if it will actually come to pass

[@rodneytholanah7310]

🤣🤣

[@xx_sad_dam_whose_sane_xx]

Xdddddd

[@markojovanovski3372]

Wait is that actually a thing?

[@JmeHayGreenz]

😂😂😂

[@play4dc]

I enjoyed in the 2016 football manager as a league 2 manager I was allowed to decide if Brexit happened 😂.

[@staffan-]

The question is if the Western Balkans is lagging behind in their reform programs because they are not accepted into the EU, or if they are not accepted into the EU because their reform programs are lagging behind.

[@TheShizaarius]

Both. It is a vicious cycle.

[@cv990a4]

I think the reality is that the EU is not going to admit some of these states in the near-term. The example of Hungary means the EU needs to solve unanimity issues before doing so. If Serbia was a member, the EU would be in danger of being a forum for Serbian issues with, e.g. Croatia and whichever other Serbian neighbor was inside the EU - e.g. Albania. This kind of thing already happens to some degree with members like Greece and Cyprus using their EU membership as a way to punish countries (like North Macedonia) with whom the vast majority of the EU has no issue. A more realistic near-term destination for Balkan candidates is to become an associate, like Norway. That has its own advantages - if you're Albania, for instance, it's massively better to be inside the single market than outside, even if Albania would then have little-to-no influence on the evolution of that single market. It's already crazy that, within the EU a small country like Slovenia has, at least in theory, the same status as e.g. Germany. For some purposes that should be true, but for others, it's clearly non-democratic. The US has a similar issue, though it's not as publicized. For instance, the state of Wyoming has two US Senators, same as California, even though California's population is ~40mm whereas that of Wyoming is < 600K. This is a democracy deficit.

[@VinnieMF]

The second. It's the country's responsibility to meet ascension standards.

[@E3ECO]

While the EU could have done a little more to help Balkan countries to progress, the main problem seems to be that those countries simply aren't good enough for EU membership. They need to shape themselves up instead of expecting the EU to do it for them.

[@sebastiangruenfeld141]

The reforms the EU requires of the western Balkans are objectively good and should be implemented even if the western Balkan didn't join the EU. But the western Balkan is just too corrupt to clean up their act first before joining the EU

[@brutalusgaming8809]

A huge weakness of the EU seems to be that a single country can Veto. It comes up over and over again. The more members added the greater this weakness becomes.

[@dermeisterdesspiegels3518]

See Austria and Hungary.

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

just give them enough money and they will agree.

[@dermeisterdesspiegels3518]

@@rizkyadiyanto7922 Hungary, most likely. Austria, eh, depends.

[@SimonMester]

The biggest weakness of the EU is actually it's overreach. The reason one member can veto is because (and people seem to quickly forget) the EU was never meant to be a political confederation, it was meant to be a trade union. And the goal of trade union was to set up free movement of goods and services. Of course there were many institutions set up for decision making, a trade bloc might still need to adapt, such as for standardization, but here you can see why unanimous agreement made complete sense. That would ensure, that the trade union would be to everyone's benefit, as the rules can't change, unless everyone agrees it's okay. In short, the problem with the EU is that it (like every human institution over time) pushed for more power. From the original peripheral idea of "we just want to have some ideas enshrined to make sure all the countries are peaceful and stable in our trade union", to what we have now, where ideology rules HEAVILY inside the union. In fact, the very idea that countries are "troublemakers" for not agreeing to what you want, shows just how far it has morphed. It's not about trade unity, it's not about democracies discussing idea. It's about power, ideology and influence. I continue to be astonished that people are seeing the EU trying to coerce countries to vote the way that want with open threats and think to themselves "yeah, fuck them over for not agreeing with you, bully them into submission".

[@thunderbug8640]

​@@SimonMester The reason I don’t have a problem with the EU doing that, like for example what they did to Hungary when Orban wouldn’t get in line, is that if you don’t like it you can just leave. But I’m not going to defend the likes of Orban when he’s quite content to take EU money. Yeah, the EU is far from perfect but it’s been a benefit for most countries which are in it

[@CountryNeighbors]

8:14 Interestingly, Slovenia, which joined earlier, also leveraged its EU membership against Croatia (which was trying to join back then), to force Croatia to resolve their border disputes.

[@valentintapata2268]

Slovenia mentioned the option but it did not use it, border disputes are as a result unresolved. International arbitrage is not uphold by Croatia either. Croats are not the best neighbors exactly.

[@JmKrokY]

​@@valentintapata2268Croatia is a good neighbour if you want to go there as a tourist.

[@valentintapata2268]

@@JmKrokY Overpriced and overseen, but I ddn't ment this but constant political and economical attacks like with teran, pršut, kranjska klobasa,... It isn't an enemy, but not a true friend either.

[@JaTi-kz6hx]

​@@valentintapata2268Croatia and Slovenia have lived next to each other for 14 centuries and have never gone to war with each other.

[@valentintapata2268]

@@JaTi-kz6hx But Slovenes still lost land and people to Croatia.

[@AchyutChaudhary]

0:19 one correction - 🇬🇪Georgia has been granted Candidate status as of December 2023.

[@lreplay562]

The video being referenced was made before Georgia got candidate status.

[@panzerchad]

@@lreplay562 no it wasn’t, this was made 3 hours ago

[@JmKrokY]

​@@panzerchadYes

[@ikilius]

@@panzerchadthey took the EU accession graph from a video that was released a year ago

[@asheiou]

​@@ikiliusand they could have updated it

[@jave2274]

EU has failed EU, EU has failed Balkans, but Balkans also failed Balkans, so nothing mayor

[@stuartwray6175]

mayor?

[@Lostouille]

​@@stuartwray6175 *mayonnaise 🍟🫙

[@Justice-qw7sj]

Tell that to the U.S and the EU that gaved us embargo on weapons and created a broken system called Dayton in Bosnia

[@jensholm5759]

Not really. They have failed themselves.

[@karma4582]

@@stuartwray6175 major*

[@tomeekun]

As a Hungarian, I think they need to replace single veto with a qualified majority voting system. We all know how much of a headache Hungary is and how my corrupt government keeps crippling the EU wherever they can. Adding western Balkan countries before a voting reform would just breed brothers and sisters in crime for Hungary. Other than that I fully support their quick accession and I cannot wait the day we can all welcome them into the fold.

[@MrTohawk]

there is a qualified majority voting system in the European Council. 55% of member states with 60% of people. The problem is the European commission

[@kenster8270]

Easier said than done. All member states have signed the various core treaties that govern the rules of play (the EU's "constitution", if you will). So in order to change those rules, all members will need to agree. I think we all know that the current leadership in Hungary and Slovakia would veto such a change.

[@happy_thinking]

@@kenster8270 And not just them. I would assume even countries like Germany and France would not want to let smaller countries overrule them.

[@YourD3estinY]

Agreed and they should take Hungary's vote away so that Orban can't blackmail Europe anymore.

[@tomeekun]

@@YourD3estinY At this point I wouldn't mind to be honest

[@Anashadk]

I would also say that it is not the responsibility of the EU to expand, if countries wish to be members then they must make their membership attractive to the EU.

[@NoctLightCloud]

the EU has already taken on loads of responsibilities without even asking your or us, thus they can also do with this matter as they please. The EU acts neither rationally nor consequential.

[@jacobsxavier6082]

@@NoctLightCloud take a look at what composes the european commission, council and parliament, especially how they function. Next time that you vote for your national government or european elections, remember that there's where the asking comes. It only takes one nation to veto all.

[@Kelpie-sb5bi]

This idea that the EU somehow owes the rest of the world something or needs to take responsibility for the stability and wellbeing of foreign nations who give us nothing in return needs to change. It’s especially common when it comes to third world countries in Afria and the Middle East, where the west is somehow to blame for not spending ridiculous amounts of finances and resources proping up their worthless and self destructive societies, aswell as Europe being expected to be act as a refugee center of the world. We Europeans have to stop being so tolerant and kind to the world.

[@AngelSonevski]

@@Kelpie-sb5bi The entire purpose of the EU is to make Europeans stop killing each other every 50 years through wealth redistribution, mutual aid and compromise, so you basically oppose it's only purpose

[@khadyadjisall5708]

@@Kelpie-sb5bi So tolerant and kind to the world ? Really? No country is perfect and no continent is but the troubles in Africa and in the Middle East were caused by the EU and NATO heavy intervention. Many of the refugees came from very specific regional parts of the world such as Syria, Afghanistan etc (and they were all heavily bombed for several years). Maybe MAYBE if they stopped bombing these countries they would not have a refugee crisis. Those "third world countries" that you so hate are the very reason you can comment on this KZbin video right now. For instance the cobalt that is in your phone or pc comes probably from the cobalt mines in Congo, and they were mined by underage kids under the supervision of foreign countries. The West does spend a large amount of money to maintain the state of total anarchy in these countries because it is advantageous to them. Europeans are not tolerant per se, the idea of freedom for everyone is pretty recent, moreover the European have told the whole world for centuries about your moral, social and racial superiority, it is only fair that the rest of the world should want the same right?

[@dastil7904]

People can just leave Bosnia and work in the EU really easy these days. Sucks for my home country, but brain draining Bosnia is in a way better for the EU (since they don't have to deal with the problems), even though they take away the need and will of the People to change something. Leaving is easier and feels less hopeless. In my part of the country you only really see widows from the war and retired people living there anyway. Schools are fucking empty (like 4 kids in total between a couple settlements a few years ago) and babies born there are actually (in my small hometown) news worthy, it's sad.

[@TheWedabest]

It the eu created bosnia's problems! But, so many people there think joining will solve so many problems. Just sad!

[@dastil7904]

@@TheWedabest I mean sure higher powers ended the war which resulted in less killing, buuuuut also in the broken ass government we were forced in today. Blaming that on the EU is unfair since US/Russia were also involved for instance.

[@TheWedabest]

@dastil7904 shortly before the war in bosnia started, a meeting was held in Portugal. The topic was internal division of bosnia. Throughout the war in bosnia, the british and french, and eu as a whole, were vehemently against lifting the illegal arms embargo! Bush said bosnia was a European problem. The American Congress and Bob dole were for lifting the embargo and supplying arms! Clinton didn't want bosnia to be an issue during his re-election! Clinton was appeasening the britis and french! In the 1990s, Russia was a mess! They weren't much of a force in international relations!

[@hermaeusmora2945]

The EU is only benefiting in the short term with brain drain of Bosnia, at some point it will bite the EU in the ass when some disaster happens and they are flooded with Bosnians. I live in the US, i see this shit all the time. Open borders are declared "good" for the few smart people we get, and yet the millions and millions that have been pouring across our border are ALL unskilled and poor that ultimately end up drains on society.

[@TheWedabest]

@@nenadvojinovic7913 that appeasement went down to the last minute! It almost failed! But it didn't.

[@thetntsheep4075]

Really detailed and interesting video with concrete examples. Your channel has really improved since a few years ago. Keep going!

[@andrewzebic6201]

I live in Croatia right now. A diplomat told me Croatian accession was an olive branch as it was, and that the rest of the nations are simply too corrupt and incompatible with the EU. The general feeling is that the Balkan nations are the problem, not the EU

[@stojadinsport]

And Bulgaria is not corrupt state? Please

[@nebtriv]

Oh Please if Croatia didn't have the medeteranian coastline where money could be made and precious land bought up by the rich, it would still be in the stale mate, just like the rest of the balkan countries.

[@Timey254]

@@stojadinsport "But what about..." Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary being so corrupt is exactly WHY the EU is in no mood to expand further.

[@andrewzebic6201]

@@stojadinsport I am not sure about Bulgaria and Romania's story. This is just what I was told. Oh and one other thing: countries with significant populations of other ethnicities (like Montenegro with its Serb population) were considered too tricky to take in

[@l.m.a.9861]

@@stojadinsport It's not that countries like Bulgaria and Romania are not corrupt, it's simply that they did more to fight it than the current candidate countries are. And while their situation is far from perfect, at least something is being done about it. I can't say the same for Serbia, Bosnia or other countries.

[@getnohappy]

I do love it when any political leader feigns outrage that geo-politics has a strategic element to it: "what, the 27 countries of the EU aren't willing to hand over the vast sums needed to modernize new members solely because they're pure of heart?"

[@slavenka3224]

Interesting, catholic countries of ex Yugoslavia Slovenia and Croatia are accepted in EU. Countries with orthodox and muslim population are not.

[@BalkanCrusader]

We were always different societies,from the beginning.. Serbia and Bosnia (under the Ottomans) gravitated to East, Croatia and Slovenia to west.. Different cultures, different mentality, different traditions..

[@RPSartre01]

Well you forgot about Bulgarian and Greece. They are orthodox Christian.

[@vericacvetkovic9093]

It all depends on EU interests. Romania is orthodox too, but they let them join EU to make sure Russia doesn't take them.

[@zt8417]

@@vericacvetkovic9093 to je visa politika . Amerika ih je uzela kao mostobran prema Rusiji . Sa Ukrajinom su se posteno zeznuli. Zao mi ukrajinaca a i Rusa sto izginuse . Sve zbog zapada , odnosno Amerike i pogane engleske .

[@BozaCukuranovic3223]

@@BalkanCrusader 2/3 of Croatia were under the Ottomans as well (whole of Slavonia, most of Dalmatian hinterland, some small part of Crotia proper). Also, there were a lot of Serbs living in Hasburg lands, like Croats and Slovenes did. So it's not that black and white. Serbs from Serbia proper fought the Ottomans in a series of bloody wars, and always gravitated to the West, but more to Paris and Geneva, while the Croats and Slovenes looked towards Vienna and Berlin.

[@bobobobic9330]

thank you for covering this topic. I spend a good part of the year in Bosnia, and when I talk to people, I feel cynicism towards the EU. everyone doubts that the country will ever be admitted. it is a pity. Croatia has seen tremendous progress since becoming a member.

[@tisho91]

It has been justified though. Am a Bulgarian and have been in Bosnia and can understand these people and their pain. Not to mention the brain drain. No one in the EU really cares about the Balkans or invest them. We've been vetoed by Austria and the Netherlands for joining Schengen. For almost no justifiable reason.

[@TheWedabest]

The eu is directly responsible for the mess that was forced on bosnia!

[@wisehippo3072]

​@@tisho91Really? For NO justifiable reason? REALLY? You actually believe that? Or could it be that they were afraid of the influx of criminals from Bulgaria, but no, you wouldn't want to hear anything like that. You can relax now, BG got the OK to join Schengen.

[@tisho91]

@@wisehippo3072 Oh c'mon. Don't tell me morals and principles in NL or AT are that much higher than ours? NL that has legalized marijuana and has abundant controversial laws and AT that are funded by Russia's proxy network as they are also not a NATO member being a "neutral" country? Do you really want me to believe as with all Western media that all is bad in our country just because our people are corrupt? Heck no! The GERB party who have installed all political structures throughout the country are supported HEAVILY by the EPP and Manfred Weber. And *surprise surprise*, EPP are part of the EP. GERB used to be funded by Angela Merkel when they were established. And they have funded the trust of the people including corruption with 0 prosecution and adequate interference in 2020. Including at the EU level. We did not sustain revolution because EU was busy at the time with Lukashenko and Belarus and I remember vividly everything. We do not deserve such a treatment from the EU or anyone from the West although it's true that we are culturally very different and that is something that needs to be talked about more rather than sipping negativity onto other countries. And using ours to pay less to employees and the State (i.e. outsourcing) As most of the ordinary citizens are taxpayers trying to make ends meet unlike the elites that are representing them. That's true in most countries.

[@jeckjeck3119]

@@TheWedabest Kalm down, Putin.

[@t95kush27]

Hungary has shown that adding nations will cause problems. Hungary has shown that members can blackmail the entire union to get what they want...with how unstable the balkans has been, is and are .. I doubt it would be a good idea

[@janpeter2898]

You know we can Reform the EU to work better even with a lot of members.

[@oliveradimitrijevic1843]

They only use the brein!!!!

[@RonnieOP]

Kosovo doesn't HAVE a territorial dispute, Kosovo IS a territorial dispute

[@hshdjdjsjjsjs6075]

Because serbia doesn‘t want to swallow their pride and admit Kosovo isn’t their anymore

[@davidristic444]

​@@hshdjdjsjjsjs6075 u can swallow this nuts . cause when nato and kfor leave Kosovo we will take it back 😉

[@donisprdonispr6638]

You're completely misrepresenting Croatia's position on Bosnia and Herzegovina EU's membership. Croatia constantly advocates for accepting B&H into EU as its foreign policy priority. And Žarko Puhovski is a terrible source. He's a far left activist with his own agenda, even insulting the left wing president of Croatia.

[@glaonrielelsinoth7243]

I would never trust this notoriously one sided pan-European channel. Sure, some of it's content is good, but it's far from giving an unbiased overview of the situation. They cherry pick their sources, rarely ever look into differing reports on a situation and do not even bother to pronounce the names correctly.

[@YourD3estinY]

There bias against Croatia and there affinity towards Serbia is palpable. It's almost as if they have someone from the Serbian propaganda department in their team. How else could you reason that the relationship between Croatia and Serbia worsened because of Croatia. It has more to do with Serbian leadership and their backsliding into old authoritarian habbits.

[@glaonrielelsinoth7243]

@@YourD3estinY Not only in regards to Croatia, but Kosovo and Albania as well. Typical whitewashing on their part. And if only Croatia actually moved to block Serbian accession in any way! It did not despite innumerable reasons to do so...

[@daniel72122]

I've noticed this too. It's ridiculous how they represent Croatia vs Serbia. There must be a propagandist in their team. ​@@YourD3estinY

[@matiyak4571]

Wtf are you talking about Croatia blocking Bosnia Croatia only wants current principles to be upheld and only Croats can elect croatian representative just like serbs and bosnians elect their own while now loopholes allowed Bosnians and Serbs who are much more numerous to vote on Croatian presidential elections and no one blocked anything.

[@mariocroatia9321]

Exactly.Sarajevo wants to change the Dayton Peace Agreement and throw Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina out of the constitution..... Croatia will never allow that

[@orangedark]

Croatia and their puppets in Bosnia want apartheid to continue. Say it like it is, you fascists.

[@eyupkata]

It is pretty naive to imagine the countries in the western balkans joining the EU will contribute positively, especially when taking the recent cases with Hungary into account. The balkans do not historically share the core western values and nor the political unrest is currently resolved which is more or less the aftermath of Yugoslav wars. You can't assure it won't be another "stubborn guy". Nor the countries are economically stable, in other words, it will most likely result in them being financially dependent on a large scale for at least several years. With a growing pessimism towards the EU and rising of populism, it doesn't happen to be all that tactical.

[@blaze_bb8]

The western balkans have hystorically been in the middle of a tug of war between the east and the west, this has led to what's happening today.

[@blaze_bb8]

How can we share western values that are shaped on the fact that we are not part of Europe

[@churchofsatanalbania1468]

To be honest with the rythm we have as growing economies and as a rising and young population..Joining EU for us Albanians would be catastrophic..EU has many problems and they put some economic rules and beaurocracies that would slow down our economy in the long term,and probably we would be on debts by 2035..Tourism and our recourses will make us a very serious country in these coming 10 years..Tirana our capital nowadays its probably the most modern capital in Europe after Moscow probably..@@eyupkata

[@nashbridges-cu6dy]

​@@eyupkatayour comment is correct, balknas (serbs and other yugoslavs) were always their own historical core, not west or east.. even during cold war they established "neutral movement" more then 50 world countries join them.. amaizing

[@Mark-Harding]

irritating to see the same graphics over and over again.

[@crvenigulas3130]

Agree. I don't know why, but it is.

[@Abdullah_the_Palestinian]

Then don't look

[@bambina011]

Kosovo was never a Republic within the old Yugoslavia, it was Autonomous Province. Get your facts well.

[@Terran720]

5:14 - "whose culture is whose" is not trivial.

[@ZombiePepperoni]

It’s kinda primitive to get upset and commit genocide and shit cuz of your ancestors ancestors

[@bratenemariz]

I dont know where you got the information that Croatia is blocking BiH on the grounds of "Croatian national question" because its not true. It is true that there is an issue in BiH regarding Bosniaks abusing electoral system and electing Croatian member of the presidency as well as the Bosniak member, but Croatia doesn't block BiHs accession to the EU. This issue, as well as another regarding elections, was raised by the BiH constitutional court. If you took a look into BiH politics you'll see that Bosnian Croats are staunchest supporters of neccesary reforms and EU accession, and Croatia is always advocating for BiH accession. Recently Croatian Prime Minister took Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Rutte to BiH to motivate BiH politicians to agree on reform priorities set by the EU.

[@CyberWolf755]

5:45 I'm from Herzegovina, the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is mostly ethnically Croat. The issue in B&H's law is that Croats and Bosniaks can vote for each others president, because we are in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Republika Srpska is a seperate state. Someone from my home city explained that we Croats are basically stunlocked in voting for our natonalist party HDZ if we want to choose our own president, because the alternative is that the Bosniaks would bring people to our region in busses and vote for their preffered Croat president, which is usually more aligned with Bosniak. As from the information in the video you could gather in the west Balkan countries, you can fathom that politicians and their parties are not the best people. Usually bullies or corrupt burecrats that pay for votes and only invest into infrastructure right before voting starts. They basically just continued the authoricratic rule from the regions past, similar to how people see Russia today, but without the money and military.

[@samvimes2061]

At least you have that excuse, we Serbs still vote for nationalist parties despite having our entity, with rights enshrined in both the Dayton Accord and Constitution. Everyone campaigns on 'protecting Republika Srpska' because there's always a fear that someone else will undercut them by making them out to be traitors and collaborators with the 'Muslim Occupiers'. Worst of all, your (the Croat) situation is constantly peddled to us as a warning of what's to come if we ever 'grow complacent' or turn our backs to the Bosinaks. How is any progress supposed to happen when all three ethnicities feel like hostages to the other two?

[@vladimir-qx9sd]

catholic does not equal ethnically croat. religion is not ethnicity. your belief in your separate religion-based identity is one of the main problems preventing bosnia and herzegovina from functioning like a normal country where people use the name of the actual country to describe themselves.

[@samvimes2061]

@@vladimir-qx9sd Not a Croat, but let me respond ot this as a Serb. You forget that as much as we define ourselfes as diffirent, so are we defined as diffirent by others. I've met enough Bosniaks, progresive or otherwise, in my life to know they don't consider my truly 'thiers'. Oh, you're fine if you play along, keep your head down, straddle the line. But if you step out of line, if you don't play the right role? Then you're the enemy, the invader in their lands, as guilty as every war criminal why lived before you were born. This is undeniably true for Bosniaks in Republica Srpska or Croat majory cantons as well. You and ten generations before you can be from here, and to most, you're just a guest on their land. So, no, trying to paint the Croats as the sole force of disunity and blaming them for the collective trauma and fear and hatered of our cursed country is ignorant.

[@josipag2185]

You do get that the point is Serbia didn't lost the war in Bosnia, basically while they are losing Kosovo at slow pace

[@vladimir-qx9sd]

@@samvimes2061 "You forget that as much as we define ourselfes as diffirent, so are we defined as diffirent by others." Exactly, the problem is perpetuated in both directions. We should not define ourselves nor others as different ethnicities on the basis of religion within Bosnia. This goes without saying in the developed world. The idea of secular nations is not even progressive at this point but of course it will take the Balkans at least another century to catch up. If you've met such "Bosniaks", then they are also the problem. Reasonable people exist in each of the three artificial Bosnian ethnic groups. You describe your experience vaguely so I can't comment on whether the treatment you have received has been deserved and if your definition of stepping out of line includes genocide denial and similar favorite pastimes of self-proclaimed Serbs. You misunderstood my comment. It does not at all imply that "Croats" specifically are a source of disunity but "belief in separate religion-based identity" which is present in all three groups, with muslim Bosnians being by far the most open to the common-sense idea of citizenship-based secular Bosnian and Herzegovinian identity.

[@bbenjoe]

There was even a strong ooposition against Croatia's ascension, but it was pushed trough during the Hungarian presidency of the EU council, back in 2011.

[@lancesantana]

a video on a region far away from where i live in and that i have no stake in for me to listen to while i work on the assignments i left until the deadline to work on LETS GOOOOOOO

[@Wustenfuchs109]

It hasn't. I am from the Balkans and no, we are NOT ready to join the rest of EU countries. The countries in the Balkans, currently outside of EU, are being governed by autocratic despots and populists, that create a cult of personality around them. Contrary to the natural order of things, we are sinking further into corruption and despotism, we are deconstructing systems, institutions and the fabric of society. We are most definitely NOT ready to be a part of the EU and that is not EU's fault or anyone's fault other than our own. No one from EU forces us to vote and then perpetually keep those autocrats in power (they are all as democratic as Putin - on paper, they got to power and then stayed on it via "elections"), no one forced us to have ZERO ecological standards, no one forced us to actively fight the implementation of any system that seeks to limit and control the chaos that are used to. Despite what people here say, we abhor order, institutions, system, democracy. We want a single strong ruler, who's word is law (screw the independent institutions!), rampant nationalism (because we apparently didn't have enough of it) and we want to be able to throw our garbage in the river when and how we want. The only thing we want from EU is to give us their money and, if possible, not ask for it back... ever. So no, EU has not failed us, we failed ourselves. EU has nothing to do with it, and we are not really on the same statehood level as most EU countries. More to the point, we have what is called "external identity", where nationalism paradoxically goes with blind love of other nations. For Serbia it is blind love towards Russia, for Bosnia it is blind love of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and so on. You will find a nationalist that will say something critical of their own country, but you will not find one that will criticize the country to which the "external identity" is connected to.

[@Just_another_Euro_dude]

That's only Serbia and Republika Srpska you are talking about. Montenegro and Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina have new governments and new leaders. While Serbia and Republika Srpska got dictatorships that are extremely pro Russian and visiting Putin any chance they got. Also North Macedonia is ok politically and not a dictatorship. So, the biggest problem in the region are Serbs. But EU is silent on ALL of that. And USA is silent towards the Serbs too. As they hope they will atract Serbia towards the west. I say stop hopping. That's impossible.

[@nifrain9494]

The question is if the existing political and economic instability does not proof the EU right? If those problems would all be transfered to EU stage it might help the balkan but be a big burden for the other 27.. i don't know

[@vukathers]

you're acting as if it's not already the case. Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Croatia are already part of the EU, and as explained in the video, they use that fact as leverage power against non-EU members in the region. That is why, for example, the name of Macedonia has officially been changed to North Macedonia : Greece basically bullied them to change their name ever since their independence from Yugoslavia, although Macedonia has never been called anything but Macedonia and the prefix North is an invention to make the Greek State happy. Same with the case of the Macedonian language and Bulgaria. So it is ALREADY a burden to the EU as an institution because its Member-States are using their status as a bullying tool. there is no "Balkan States" and "the other 27 EU countries" because there are at least 4 Balkan States in the 27 EU countries

[@JmKrokY]

​@@vukathersAlmost every EU country has used its power against others in such a way, don't blame it on a few that you view as more corrupt than the others.

[@raulivan2103]

​@@vukathers when did romania use eu membership as leverage ?

[@vukathers]

@@JmKrokY i know that i was just referencing them because of the context of the argument “don’t make Balkan problems EU problems”

[@milanstanisic1939]

Outstanding analysis! Chapeau👏. Unbiased, objective, I'm really pleasantly suprised.

[@joroplayer]

5:40 A remark on the Bulgarian veto - after the french mediation, Bulgaria dropped its language claim for accession. The only criteria, which was jointly voted by all members, was for Macedonia to recognise a Bulgarian nationality as minority in its constitution to protect it from discrimination.

[@azureblue5440]

sorry but thats BS. we both know what the “bulgarian minority” is. People who bought bulgarian passports so that they can earn more money by working in the other EU countries. I lived most of my time in Macedonia and never have I met a person that identifies as a bulgarian. It is a multietnic country and we have no problems with people that are not ethnocally macedonian. Maybe you should look for rights about minorities in your country

[@buraog5222]

LooooL

[@joroplayer]

@@azureblue5440 Yes I know that its more possible to see martians than bulgarians in Macedonia, but if that continues the veto will be your last problem

[@val-schaeffer1117]

From discrimination? How much anti discrimination laws do Germany offer? Zilch.

[@Da__goat]

Modern Macedonians are just Bulgars, their languages are almost indistinguishable from one another, and they claim Greek heritage, which is also wrong

[@stuartwray6175]

0:47 "fallen short" - nicely timed edit.

[@nanana354]

Cyprus is divided because of the Turkish illegal invasion and occupation since 1974. Facts should be provided accurately.

[@chaosgamer016_5]

I'm frome Bosnia and Hercegovina and I personaly think it's not on EU to resolve our problems and we need to earn EU membership so the problem are the politicions

[@drunk306sqrl]

But is upto EU to help us solve our problems. They meddled into Yugoslavia until it fell apart, they still meddle in each of our countries, but then need to it properly. They should not support local dictators, they brought Vučić in power here in Serbia and he is still good for them even we are further away from EU values now compared to 2012. when he came to power. EU is not consistent in their policies and values, they are happy that there are no new wars and that is it. EU must invest in good NGOs to promote democracy and rule of law and not to turn blind eye on what politicians do here just for sake of stability.

[@chaosgamer016_5]

@@drunk306sqrl my dude I live in Bosnia and Hercegovina and there is no good politicion (or party) to vote for all of them are corupt and only the people can change that and Vucic is in power not becuse of EU suport but becuse Serbs vote for him and his party again it's mostly peoples fult for the state of our countryes not the EUs

[@JmKrokY]

No

[@luciferin22]

Hi from Montenegro!

[@cv990a4]

@@drunk306sqrlThis is absurd. Yugoslavia fell apart because Milosevic and other Serbian maximalists disturbed the very delicate balance of ethnic power, not because Western Europe "meddled". Indeed, initial "meddling" had the effect of advantaging the continuation of Yugoslavia because it included arms embargos that made it harder for Croatia, et al, to resist the center.

[@etbadaboum]

Making Balkans successful: the final boss of civilizational game

[@YourD3estinY]

Wait till you get the Eastern European and Middle Eastern expansions. 😂

[@etbadaboum]

@@YourD3estinY 😆

[@SwordQuake2]

Ever heard of Africa?

[@andrewworley4401]

I liked this video, thank you for sharing.

[@ernon69]

There is major discontent regarding accesion of Balkan countries as it seems none of the country is capable of dealing with their own corruption, poor financial situation and questionable democracy.

[@МиланПотић-б9х]

Corrupt government is supported by the West because the West is most comfortable with corrupt government. Such a government is an easy instrument for achieving the goals that the West wants, and at the same time, a corrupt government is easily blackmailed by affairs that the West can initiate at any time. It is a vicious cycle that can only be broken by the collapse of the west that is happening right now.

[@notreallyhere67]

OK, I gotta ask: why is it the EU's job to fix the issues in the Balkans? EU: *does anything* Locals: the EU is meddling in our affairs! EU: *does nothing* Locals: the EU has failed us!

[@TheWedabest]

In the case of bosnia, the eu is responsible for the mess they created! Look up Dayton, and everything will be clear to you!

[@Kelpie-sb5bi]

This is a thing all over the world, third world nations who can seemingly accomplish nothing on their own blaming the EU or the western world for all their problems, while the only reason they don’t collapse tomorrow is because the western world pumps ridiculous amounts of resources and financing into providing some sort of stability for their pitiful and inept nations. The western world needs pull the life support on these pathetic nations and close it’s borders to them.

[@YourD3estinY]

Cause their problems will end up being our problems. It is literally a region surounded by the EU...

[@xMarko7]

Well in this case why is EU whining when a Balkan country is welcoming foreign invests coming from Asia ? That's it, all about business and geopolitics. The EU fundamentally dont want to expand to the Balkans, but they have to make sure they keep these countries into the bloc's influence. That's why we have what we see today. Membership promises but slow talks and negotiations, while giving a little but of EU funds to satisfy tha candidates.

[@tairasayo]

In short, local "population" do not like the EU due: 1. Confusing EU policies 2. The EU didn't resolve local conflicts 3. The EU didn't fix LOCAL corruption LOL, what? The first one is true, but what with 2 and 3? How come this is an EU job?

[@svuvich]

you missed the points that other balcan states that joined the EU now leverage their veto right against their neighbours joining, and europe supports local authocrats which undermines their democratization and consequently makes fixing local problems more difficult

[@Wislehorn]

EU is viewed as hypocritical, because they're ready to support an autocrat if that means furthering their interests (Not only stability, but economic ones). We don't expect them to solve our corruption, or replace Vučić, but they should not overlook our government's corruption when it suits them. Do you have any idea how demoralizing it is for a liberal Serb to see the EU give their support to somebody who is so blatantly corrupt and autocratic?

[@Rain-Man]

The more the countries slip democraticaly, the worse the rule of law gets, the worse the corruption gets, the more the local "rulers" disenfringe the pro eu population in their countries the more money and support they get from brussels. Hope this helps with 3.

[@JmKrokY]

​@@svuvichBalkan* and that is normal, it's called politics, everyone wants a good deal.

[@svuvich]

@@JmKrokY the fact that it is normal does not make it good. Especially for the EU and the region as a whole in the long term. "everyone wants a good deal" doesnt explain stupid disputes that were mentioned like language and country maming stuff, and outright shady stuff like war crimes downplaying

[@TheTrackRecord]

Surely the difference between Cyprus and Moldova and the balkans is that their dispute is with a country outside the EU. You can’t have EU countries disagreeing with each other on their borders.

[@dovlaaaable]

Turkey was and is a EU candidate for a long time

[@nashbridges-cu6dy]

Then simple respect servian territorial integrity and you will have a peace and new EU memebers

[@nikanikuradze7437]

3:12 Georgia was granted candidate status in December last year

[@PhthaloJohnson]

Georgia is no where near the Balkans...

[@janaejoaodosacramento9731]

@@PhthaloJohnsonstill a small mistake

[@jic1]

@@PhthaloJohnson No, but Georgia is in that graphic, and is shown as not having candidate status.

[@nikanikuradze7437]

i understand that but its still a factual mistake@@PhthaloJohnson

[@VinnieMF]

That graphic is from a video prior to their status change.

[@ivanlazic4764]

Great job, first time on YT I found someone objective treated this topic... But you just scratch the surface. But anyhow great job!!!

[@rogerphelps9939]

Croatia and Slovenia have done rather well out of EU membership.

[@Pinkhairedkilla]

Slovenia ever since Yugoslavia has always been better than the rest of the Yugoslav republics, it had less tensions, was more liberal, had the freest press after Tito passed away and was economically better and more advanced than the rest of Yugoslav republics, there is a reason why Tito choose to treat his illnesses there, so it's no surprise they turn out better and "Somewhat" up to Europe standards

[@serebii666]

@@Pinkhairedkilla Even before Yugoslavia, Slovenia was the wealthiest in the Region. It was part of Cisleithania and was therefore administrated by Austria and was politically oriented towards Vienna. Slovenia's real loss was after WW1 and WW2, losing significant territory to Italy, especially Gorizia and the city of Trieste (Trst in Slovene). So Slovenia's historic position was similar to Czechia's, benefitting from the regulatory structure and market access of Austrian Administration, as well as being located on important trade corridors that allowed it to be gain much more wealth during Industrialization, as well as being distant from any theatres of War in this period. Croatia, let alone Serbia and the Balkan states closest to the Ottomans on the other hand had to contend with Hungarian and Ottoman administration, which was poorer and lacked the ability to modernize and numerous destructive contested wars. Slovenia, having better infrastructure since the 19th century kept giving it a better edge over the rest of Yugoslavia.

[@asdasdasddgdgdfgdg]

​@@PinkhairedkillaSlovenia is technically not a Balkan country, it is an Alpine country. This is explains why everything about Slovenia (down to even the folk music) is so different from the rest of ex Yugoslavia.

[@Pinkhairedkilla]

@@serebii666 Yeah bro ik even before Yugoslavia Slovenia always did alright, but I was making the case how Slovenia was always better than the rest of Yugoslav republics, so it's not a surprise they are better than the rest

[@milanlabus1582]

Croatias prices have skyrocketed and people are fleeing the country

[@theconqueringram5295]

The EU needs to work on its own internal issues first. How they do that is an issue in of itself.

[@myrlyn1250]

0:45 "EU falling short" with von der Leyen standing next to the Serbian president, who appears to be about half a meter taller than her. 😂

[@peterfireflylund]

He is unusually tall and she is a bit short.

[@nikolay4101-s7r]

5:35 As a Bulgarian, I feel it important to note that the language dispute with Macedonia was not the main reason for the veto (although it contributed to it) and "EU not recognising the Macedonain language" was not one of the conditions for the lifting of the veto (although "None of this may be interpreted as us recognising the language as separate" was). The two conditions of note were adding Bulgarians as a protected minority group to the Macedonian constitutuon and following the 2017 friendship treaty, which includes a joint commission on historical disputes that still need to be resolved as far as I know. The government's (frankly quite silly) nationalism with regards to not acknowledging **a language** is condemnable, but the reasons for the veto are a separate issue

[@tisho91]

Да. Всъщност, добро е и е важно уточнението, че ветото е на база защита на малцинството българи в С.Македония повече, отколкото (не)признаването на македонският език. Трябва да се каже и, че македонците масово използват анти-българска реторика, слагайки етикетът "фашисти", който е напълно недопустим, както и горенето на български знамена.

[@vik10273]

the Bulgarian government’s ‘quite silly nationalism’ you mean?

[@nikolay4101-s7r]

​@@vik10273 Yes, I could have phrased it better. "Silly nationalism" is also a tautology in my opinion, under no circumstances is nationalism not silly. "I reject the existance of your language" is such a Balkan dispute that I can't help but laugh, I feel like if this was Western Europe politicians would be laughed off the national stage for expressing this view.

[@ChangesOfTomorrow]

Indeed, I'm surprised TLDR made such a mistake. It's not even particularly difficult to find info

[@dancansubito8250]

@ChangesOfTomorrow I am not surprised, TLDR is not a serious/factually reliable channel.

[@petarstoyanov102]

Bulgarian veto on North Macedonia has little to do with language. The main issue is the constant violation of rights combined with real acts of aggression and hatred against Bulgarian minority. Things like burning Bulgarian cultural centers, denying people political rights on the basis of Bulgarians not being "officially recognized as an official state-making minority in their Constitution" etc. Yes, that's right - they have a lost of minorities in their Constitution which are forming the state and your political rights come from belonging to some of these groups. How is this European?

[@paul1979uk2000]

Yes and no on if the EU has failed the Balkans, yes in the sense that the EU should have been more encouraging in giving these countries hope that they can join, which likely would have helped them do the reforms needed to join, and also that the EU should have done reforms to its self years ago, especially on veto rules, which is probably the main reason why it would expand until there are reforms to the EU. But no in the sense that the EU isn't really the issue, some of the members in the EU are, some big reforms to the EU are needed and are long overdue, but there needs to be the political will from the EU members for real change to happen, momentum seems to be building on pushing for reforms, but that could take years and might not achieve much and honestly, too much time has been wasted over the last decade, that many countries that want to join have been losing hope, seeing the EU door firmly shut. Personally, I think reforms to the EU are needed before 2030 at the latest, with serious talks starting after the European Parliament elections later this year, and ideally, the talks should be concluded within two years, with them being implemented on the next European elections. If there are no real signs of change that countries that want to join, especially the ones doing the reforms to join, if there are no real signs they can join, many could look for alternatives away from the EU, something the likes of China and Russia will likely take advantage off. I do also wonder with Ukraine, if the EU and NATO were more open to encouraging reforms in the country, if they could have been much closer to being a member of the EU or even being a member of NATO, which likely would have prevented the war that's going on now. I also do think the EU should open more talks with the Balkan countries, being that they've opened the door with a few other countries recently like Ukraine, that could help to get things moving, but there is still a lot of work to do in those countries that want to join, a lot of reforms are needed, a reduction in corruption and so on, and there is also reforms of the EU that are needed, especially on the veto rules before any country can join, but at least if the EU shows signs of reforms and encourages those countries that want to join that they can with the reforms being done, it could go a long way politically and with the public in those countries in getting the reforms needed, whereas, if they lose hope, it becomes a lot harder for them, or worse, they could look at alternatives like Russia or China.

[@NighthunterNyx]

You do realize that EU cannot enlarge itself at all until EU reforms itself. Today EU relies on the political and economic heft of Germany, France and Italy to coerce east Europe into hard consensus on various topics. These arm twisting negotiations take years and yield unsatisfactory results. We just saw the ridiculous 12 bn per year aid for Ukraine taking over 1 year to negotiate. Well Ukraine needs around 150bn per year to actually make any difference at all. So no the expansion is not blocked by public sentiment or neighborly gruges. EU enlargement is blocked because all of EU is blocked until it becomes a federal state with majority rule of sorts.

[@jensholm5759]

You are right, but Your hope for result is not a federate state.

[@NighthunterNyx]

@jensholm5759 why not a federal state or confederation? The sole reason I can think of is politician egos. The guys don't want to give up power. If there is a confederation, they will have to give up control of foreign policy, border control and military. Imagine how that will cost them in electioneering - no more petty lies about migration, no more right-wing migration populism as the border control of EU may actually work. Today right wing politicians fight tooth and nail to keep border control dysfunctional so they get re-elected on the same lie.....

[@argavenharge9704]

Wrong.If EU can give 50 billions of euros to Ukraine,all other Is hypocritical.With this money,WB can solve all problems But WB received few billions in 20 years.

[@NighthunterNyx]

​​​@@argavenharge9704 corruption eats any and all money given to the western Balkans. That is the sad reality. It is not for lack of trying by EU to help. Also EU must change before it expands that is also sad reality. EU is stuck right now.

[@y40ll]

How failed? They bombed Serbia without Security Council resolutions, against international law, then recognized Kosovo as an independent country that unilaterally declared independence, even without a referendum. And then they put pressure on Serbia to recognize such a Kosovo. Idiocy! Serbs hate NATO because of that, but also EU as an American project.

[@Daal169]

The Greece - N.Macedonia dispute is not merely about the name. That's an extreme oversimplification.

[@VladTaushanov]

"extreme oversimplification" might be an oversimplification.

[@tisho91]

True

[@georgedevries3992]

Typical foreigner behavior. Don't sweat it. What, you expect such people (from a YTer, no less) to research tons of recent, historical documents? Lmao.

[@Ungehorsam]

It's literally about the name. And history too, history side gets absolutely hilarious. Like when saying Alexander spoke Macedonian, and he was from Macedonia God that's just funny.

[@markojovanovski3372]

​@@Ungehorsamhe was Macedonian yeah. Hellenic culture due to the region but he was Macedonian. Its called the Macedonian empire for a reason

[@TookLuke]

As someone from Serbia - I find this pretty insightful and objective. Really good coverage of the main problems in 13 minutes. Honestly, it does not seem that either side is working on solutions, and citizens of these countries are let down and have a bitter end. I just hope citizens of current EU members understand how privileged they are.

[@lazar2655584]

This comment is gonna be a long one, I can guarantee that you will learn something new from it. So lets start, in 1st year of Faculty of Law in Belgrade we had subject with name "Introduction to the law of European integration". The professor who taught that course was in the legal team of the Republic of Serbia from 2005 to 2013, which is conducting negotiations with the EU on non-political level. From her we learned many interesting events during the negotiations and the entry of other countries from the Balkans. After the screening process of the European Commission, Serbia received high marks, and it was expected that Serbia would become a member of the EU together with Bulgaria and Romania that failed to do so in 2004 due to their deficiencies mainly in the legal segments. It should be emphasized that Bulgaria and Romania entered in a very unfair way, primarily towards Serbia and Croatia. In order to fulfill their laws in a very short time, they literally copied laws from European countries in English and not in Romanian or Bulgarian. After the declared independence of Kosovo* (2008), the deadline changes to the beginning of the 2nd decade (2011 onwards), It was emphasized to Serbia that it just had to adjust its relations with the authorities in Pristina, this adjustment was mostly of a technical nature and took place in 2011 if I remember correctly. After which Serbia was told that it would become a member of the Union together with the Republic of Croatia. As we all know today, this did not happen, but what happened next? The Union no longer had to worry about other people's influence(mainly Russia and China) on the Balkans, but simply surrounded it. It is very important to note that Croatia entered the EU in a fair way through real reforms. It is very important to note that the government of the Democratic Party, which lasted until 2012, became disillusioned and even began to reject the union's demands, which is why the union then supported the SNS in the 2012 elections. After the change of government, the negotiations were so to speak reset, Serbia only got the position of candidate in 2012 (a month before the elections), and the chapters started to open a few months after the elections (2013). During the entire time that the EU promised Serbia that it would become a member, Serbia did not even get the position of a candidate. After 2013 and 2014, people lose their will for EU integration and support slowly declines. We're getting to the part where my professor is no longer part of the negotiation team and is just guessing what's going on. Due to the huge number of members who joined before the requirements were fulfilled (Eastern Europe), the EU is facing big problems, even today some of the countries of the union would not be able to join it, Serbia is also one. The Union decided to "buy" Serbia with cheap money and investments. Right now: The government in Serbia is good enough for EU interests (mainly in Kosovo*), but not good enough for a member. It is very important to note that in the 2023 elections, Aleksandar Vučić was USAs, EUs and Russias candidate.

[@JmKrokY]

Very cool

[@s.v.berezin1562]

The assertion that Bulgaria and Romania entered in an "unfair" way is pretty laughable. Neither of the two had been at war with its neighbours in the last years at the time of joining, and didn't have active conflicts either. I am less familiar with events in Romania, but Bulgaria prostrated herself to any EU demand and it's impossible to say she was not co-operative, yet accepted. Serbia was always going to be far more unstable due to the recent conflicts. Not just that, but Bulgaria threw herself into NATO as soon as possible after 1989 and generally accepted her role in the new order; while Serbia fought NATO and is far more pro-Russian diplomatically. In later years, the increased Chinese investment in Serbia presents additional complications, as the government has to sever ties there to enter the EU - a choice Bulgaria and Romania never had to make. Personally, I hope all of former Yugoslavia is integrated - it would benefit the whole Balkans economically (and would allow me easier travel).

[@Vrhovac19]

@@s.v.berezin1562 Chill mate, he did not say that you were uncooperative, he simply said that in integrations there are more than just a legal issue (considering that you could rewrite other people's laws in English), political issues, in which Bulgaria was certainly more cooperative than Serbia.

[@Flavor88]

They have done the same for all the countries that are still in the process, especially for Turkey. It is politics, which are constantly changing and as the saying goes, never trust a politician.

[@bakimc4722]

Лазаре,тотално ме боли курац за ЕУ

[@frankiebortolussi7628]

Can you add a sources list to your videos? That would help both legitimise your claims and allow people to further explore the topics you cover. Thanks?

[@SerbLawyer92]

I don't think that any WB country will join EU, because EU doesn't want any of our countries (especially Serbia). The main reason for that (after corruption) is that WB countries are very poor and they would only be burden on EU economy, I mean, just look Bulgarian economy which is on the similar level as Serbian economy by looking GDP data. Maybe the closest country to join is Montenegro but I doubt it that they will join any time soon.

[@JmKrokY]

Montenegro has such a tiny economy, is the farthest in the process and already uses the Euro. It is safe to say that they could potentially join very soon.

[@MarcusLangbart]

Albania as well. Everybody likes Edi Rama and has many friends in Europe (and a long-time economical relationship with italy)

[@Just_another_Euro_dude]

We in Montenegro now got higher (in some cases MUUUUCH higher) median wealth per adult citizen than Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Estonia, Cyprus, Hungary, etc. Not to mention places such as Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Albania, Russia, Turkey, etc. I think just like Iceland we will now have to think IF it's in our interest to join the EU or not. As we are growing SUPER FAST ever since the end of worst Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020. We grew 6,5% in 2023. That's on TOP of the big growths in 2021 and 2022. We are already in NATO since 2017, so all the investments are safe here. Macron just said few days ago that we are the first new EU member meeting our prime minister.

[@SerbLawyer92]

@@Just_another_Euro_dude if is that so, why Montenegro is not part of EU?

[@VinnieMF]

​@@SerbLawyer92 They have other metrics to improve in.

[@slavenka3224]

Your analysis is excellent!

[@k0ziolRD]

"It is EU's fault for not fixing our countries"

[@Slaci-vl2io]

Hot topic with abdication of Hungary’s Novak Katalin. Focus on Péter Magyar and his “whistleblower” statements.

[@pintiliecatalin]

Why is Romania in that list of EU countries vetoing western balkan ones from joining. From what i know Romania did not mention using her Veto power against anyone.

[@Aleksandar.Stef98]

The former president of Romania, Trajan Basescu, threatened Serbia with vetoing the accession to the European Union. In the east of Serbia live the Vlachs who are a Romanic people and who speak a language similar to Romanian. They consider themselves a separate ethnic group and we Serbs also see them that way, while some see them as part of the Romanian ethnic corps. In any case, the "threats" sent from Romania were related to the fact that Serbia views them the way they declare, so the former president spoke about the need for Serbia to change its position.

[@pintiliecatalin]

@@Aleksandar.Stef98 Aaa, thank you. After some digging it appears you where right. Romania did say that it would veto Serbia's candidate status if Vlach minority rights are not recognized. The veto was however withdrawn after Serbia received it's candidate status.

[@saleroker83]

I am from Serbia and I can say that observation in this video is perfectly right and my personal sentiment is same

[@shaclo1512]

then you understand that you guys are the only troublemakers in Balkan.

[@theprooblem]

I am sorry but further enlargement is out of discussion. It was already a mistake going up to 28 member states. We should have perfected the union of the founding members with a deeper political federation. Then create some kind of "light EU" for the new applicants.

[@JmKrokY]

No

[@JimmyM1975]

Saying that Keeping Eastern European Countries Struggling and Isolated from the Founding Members is some Westoid European Nationalist Crap

[@Flavor88]

Lol, how do you think Europe was a major international and economic player in the world?

[@theprooblem]

I think the first 12 countries are powerful enough.

[@Flavor88]

@theprooblem lol, none of them would compete in the global market. Europe is struggling as it is, let alone if it was smaller. I can only imagine the small southern/eastern European countries being allied with China and other countries how that would play for the EU. It seems that you forget hoe vastly different was Europe up until 1990 and what it meant having borders and individualism in europe

[@eckelmannjakob4610]

This is a very good vidio that shows the in depth research that went into it.

[@TheShizaarius]

Bosnia is way too disorganized politically to join the EU, Serbia is Russia's little bro, was bombed by Nato less than 30 yrs ago and is almost incompatible with Western Europe in the current situation, especially due to the status of Kosovo, which is recognized globally by fewer states than Palestine. EU accession in the near future is therefore only viable for Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro, and those nations have their own issues as well. They are working on them and getting closer, especially since the war in Ukraine started and the EU actually started caring about the existence of the Balkans, as they could "fall under Russian influence". In short, you could say that on the Western Balkans side, there is too much systemic corruption and unwillingness to change that, while the EU shows classic Western hubris, misunderstanding and condesceding attitude.

[@MarcusLangbart]

I feel sorry for Bosnia because it's the country that suffered the most during the 90s. The ethnical divisions, the tension and the wounds are too fresh to even attempt to reach a common ground.

[@TheShizaarius]

@@MarcusLangbart Very true. Before the war in Yugoslavia, people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds were living side by side in Bosnia. It was the least ethnically and religiously homogenous of the six republics, which led to the worst conflicts later on when shit had hit the fan

[@JaTi-kz6hx]

​@@TheShizaariusMontenegro has too many Serbs, more than 35%. If the pro-Serbian government comes to power when Montenegro is in the EU, it will be much worse than with Hungary

[@danieleyre8913]

Serbia is not “Russia’s little bro”. They’re independent but merely have natural historic sites with Russia.

[@danieleyre8913]

@@JaTi-kz6hxYou seem to have a prejudice against Serbs.

[@pr0xZen]

The EU "membership progress" chart you used multiple times throughout this video, _sorely_ needed some descriptors. *_Especially_* the different _"Accession negotiations"_ bar graphs.

[@michaelogrady1002]

Ths conditions for joining the EU are laid out in the so called Copenhagen criteria to which any applicant member must comply with .Any request to join the EU must first be approved unanimously by the EU council which sets in train the timetable for joining subject to the applicant compliance with the criteria for membership.

[@TheSouth-j7f]

The Serbs don't want to join NATO. They don't like the E.U either as they can't do anymore "special military operations" if they joined the E.U. The Serbs do like E.U money and that is the only reason they applied.

[@lepezamajmune3965]

The biggest problem with the EU in the Western Balkans is how the EU has constantly negotiated with and supported dictators in the region while doing nothing to promote democracy. Even now the EU supports strongmen like Vuchich and Rama because they find them easier to deal with. All of these countries have been passing every single reform the EU has told them to, unanimously without any debate., they also have special mechanisms to fast track EU reforms, but the EU can't seem to realize that the reforms do nothing if you do not have a functioning judicial system and have massive institutional rot. I also want to mention emigration to the EU since I don't know how many Europeans consider this. The Balkans is being depopulated, massive amounts of people are moving to Germany on visas that are easier and easier to get. If the EU cared it would limit this in order to prevent the consequences of the massive brain drain that is taking place. But the EU profits massively from this brain drain since they get an abundance of cheap high skilled workers. And while Germany gains skilled workers, the Western Balkans losses hardworking people who are dissatisfied with the system, creating a death spiral for the region.

[@tisho91]

This is very, very true! As a Bulgarian, I used to live abroad and was paid very poorly by a bunch of Italians only because they don't want to, not that they can't. And most of Europe actually benefits from this whilst at the same time winks at dictators and autocrats in the region who think they're invincible. That's hypocrisy 100% - see Bulgaria's "progess" with judicial reforms. And because of Russia and China's interests in the region and the EU not willing to meddle with them, they will eventually have to decide whether it's really important for them to have these countries as members or not (and influence a lot of the bad things that have historically happened to the otherwise beautiful region)

[@MarcusLangbart]

you said it yourself, if judicial system is still rotten to the core the EU can't do anything about it. Serbia is still hypernationalistic (poland and hungary as well but they've shown some variation with elections ove the past 15 years), Bosnia is literally a mess with Srpska and there's nothing to do about it. I trust Albania and Montenegro more.

[@lepezamajmune3965]

@@MarcusLangbart Albania and Montenegro are just as bad. At least the EU supported dictator in Montenegro got voted out recently. And why do you think there is a problem with nationalism in Serbia? Do you think that Albanians are not nationalistic? Literally every country in the Balkans has a 'big' version of itself showing their territorial ambitions outside of their borders. Albanians and Serbians are just the worst examples of this.

[@GoDLiKeKakashi]

@@lepezamajmune3965 "At least the EU supported dictator in Montenegro got voted out recently." what? You don't just "vote out" dictators. By definition dictators is a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force. You CANNOT vote out a dictator because they power does not come from the people to begin with. For example look at Belarus. Lukashenka has been in charge since the very first election. Is he just THAT good or does he hold absolute power so elections don't matter? At least put some effort into your anti-EU bullshit.

[@lepezamajmune3965]

@@GoDLiKeKakashi Milo Djukanovich was in power for 20-30 years. He was in power for as long as Lukashenko was in power, and longer than Putin has been in power though if you only look at independent Montenegro he was in power for only 16 years. Look him up, his rule was described as an autocracy and a kleptocracy and he sold off half the Montenegrin coast to Russian oligarchs. Maybe dictator isn't the right word, maybe autocrat is better. This is not anti-EU propaganda, and I'm not that anti-EU since the Balkan countries need to become a part of the EU because of multiple reasons. It's also not the EU's fault that all of the money they have given to us has been stolen by our politicians, but it is their fault for not keeping them accountable. Were there any sanctions after the recent Serbian elections that foreign observers said were unfair? No there were not any, because the EU does not want to alienate Serbia so they continue to work with autocracies. I hope that the US gets more involved with the region as they've been taking some positive steps recently and have been doing a lot of good. I'm sorry if this comes off as aggressive, but please understand that you do not know everything about a region you do not live in. And if you don't know anything about the region don't dismiss things as bullshit without at least checking them out beforehand.

[@danielsurvivor1372]

9:52:Montenegro is the closest one to being accepted in EU? 😮

[@sonneh86]

Balkans failed themselves

[@Dotalol123]

No we didnt, Balkan politicians love this limbo - neither EU, neither out of EU, because they can fund their shady business with EU funds, ordinary citizens havent seen a dime out of EU funds, ordinary citizens want to move to Germany, where you get more money for your work, so they are basically gatekeeping and literally making hostage situation out of Balkan countries and EU is fine with that, thats why people lost faith in EU...

[@geewee1geewee197]

How hard is it to do a decent research, guys? Your report is riddled with inaccuracies and propaganda seeding. Croatia isn't blocking anyone from joining the EU and we actually should. Regarding the alleged war crimes(made up charges) Serbia is accusing Croatia your reference is Zarko Puhovski? Seriously? Several minutes of googling would have shown you who and what that guy really is. You really need to do a better job.

[@thomasdevine867]

Who hasn't failed the Balkans? The Ottomans and the Austrians messed that place up throughly. 1:06

[@hgkghkhgkgh8378]

No, it was Brits who messed it up. Most civilized parts of the Balkans are the former Austrian parts. Anglos just love to destroy.

[@TheNavalAviator]

It's not that they messed it up, it's that nobody fixed it.

[@univeropa3363]

What did the Austrians do other than try and prevent Yugoslavia (and look how that ended)?

[@serebii666]

@@univeropa3363 Well for starters, they were trying to claim the whole Balkans for themselves, and kicked off the destructive WW1. They also suppressed their Slavic population, causing Trialism to fail multiple times, which would have stemmed any desire to create a Yugoslavia in the first place.

[@koenkoen1270]

Balkans were already disorganized and on each other's throats before the Ottomans and Austrians turned their attention to the region. Don't blame the stronger powers here. They didn't move a finger to divide the region before conquering it.

[@gyorgygajdos1657]

They never had done anything in and about the Balkans. They couldn't even stop the wars from the 90s in years. The Americans did.

[@celestindimitriu3675]

Romania let go of Moldova and in fact, supported it in its EU accession path. Why is Bulgaria not following the same path with N.Macedonia ?? This is what I hate about Eastern Europe. The mentality in this part of the world is what drags us down.

[@markojovanovski3372]

As i macedonian the situation is not really comparable. We do not need to be "let go". We are our own nation and people with our own language. But i agree the mentality is really bad

[@JmKrokY]

​@@markojovanovski3372Bulgaria is rightfully Macedonian land!

[@E36333]

Difference between Moldova and N. Macedonia is that Moldova doesn't falsify and appropriate the history of their neighbours the same way N. Macedonia does with Bulgaria and Greece

[@SeutesTercero]

Moldovan parlament already recognised the fact that "moldovan" lenguage is the local name for romanian. The problem with the N. Macedonian state is that they don't recognise their own ethnic origins. On top of that, the "elites" there refuse to get rid of the institutionalised hatred towards everything bulgarian. For you to understand the current situation, is like if moldovans learned at school that romanians are evil fascists that only want to invade them. And there are parts of Romania that belong to the ancient moldovan state since the begining of times. It is crazy. That's why the N. Macedonian state has to undergo reforms in their education and laws which now are based on falsifications and hatred.

[@TzvetozarCherkezov]

If you educate yourself on the issue, you will understand them. Thinking millions of people are wrong while you're right is extremely arrogant. You simply have never studied the matter, which is why you think there's something wrong with the mentality of people, rather than with your knowledge on the topic.

[@jcronin3155]

The EU has failed the whole of Europe, never mind the Western Balkins.

[@AchyutChaudhary]

*Western Balkans:* waiting to join since the 2000s 😡😡 *meanwhile 🇹🇷Türkiye:* been an applicant to join since 1987 💀

[@milanlabus1582]

turkey has 100 million people, thats a lot more emigration than montenegro who has 500k people

[@AleksFolk1]

I love the ‘did that fix it bro?’ That’s such an EU behaviour though!

[@gzrh1]

"If they want progress in EU they should behave like European " the irony

[@Jaywalker45]

What defines being a European ??? A neo liberal

[@croatianwarmaster7872]

Croatia is not western "balkans". Balkan is a mountain range in Bulgaria and servia.

[@borislavb292]

Please research more next time. Bulgaria is not blocking Macedonia because of language! It was never the case. It is all about the human rights of the Bulgarians living in Macedonia, who have been violated ever since WW2 and ongoing today!

[@markojovanovski3372]

Bulgaira literally sent Macesonian jews to be gassed. And still doesent admit it. What rights do the 30 bulgarians in Macedonia not have?

[@Flavor88]

Please, dont believe the propaganda, it is simply bullshit. Same story, all over the Balkans. Turks say that for Cyprus. Greece says that for Albania. Bulgaria says that for N.Macedonia. Serbs say that for Kosova. Croatians say that for Bosnia. Serbs say that for Serbia. It is simply not true but they are used politically.

[@TzvetozarCherkezov]

@@markojovanovski3372 Yeah, this is exactly why you're not joining the EU. Enjoy living in 1945.

[@samuela-aegisdottir]

I don't think it is fair to blame EU for the rise of nationalism in Balcan. Nationalism is on the rise globaly. USA, India, Israel, China, Russia, Turkey just to name some famous examples. It is a problem in many European countires, not just Balkans.

[@darth3911]

Nationalism has always been high in the U.S. It reached its peak during WW2 and the early Cold War. Israeli nationalism has also been around for a long time, only new thing there is that Israeli nationalists are only now being represented in government. Chinese, Russian, Turkish and Indian nationalism is more new and act as better examples.

[@zawiszaczarny7876]

Eu is failing everyone lately, thos everyone protesting the envoiremental, agrocultural and migrant madness, for last 8 years or more...

[@_petrovic179]

NATO countries participated in preparing and carry out Croatian military actions in 1995 when Serbian minority is completely wiped out of Croatian territory. It was the first biggest ethnic cleansing action since WWII in Europe and continuation of WWII Croatian Nazi crime over Serbian minority. In 2013 EU find that Croatia fully fulfill EU standards and values and it's EU state member now. So much about Western morality and humanity...

[@idecanymoretbh]

Hoes mad

[@mrtiny4515]

seems like you forgot about ethnic cleansing and genocide by the serbians in the 90s

[@_petrovic179]

@@mrtiny4515 There were no ethnic cleansing or genocide by Serbs, just the opposite. Serbs were the main victims, in large numbers. All of that is not known well, but the truth will be seen. Because of the bribed politicians, anti Serb hysteria and lies is still spreading.

[@maxgain1]

I don't know why you think EU should be responsible or get involved for anything in Balkans ? They are damned if they do, damned if they don't. Balkans should sort themselves out

[@skrtskrt4394]

One mistake in video KOSOVO IS SERBIA 🇷🇸🇷🇸

[@erikk.137]

It is mot since your president (that Serbs voted for) gave them state atributs as borders, police, corts, vehicle plates, ID's , international phone number, electro distribution, Lake Gazivode, civil protection, etc.

[@RPSartre01]

The number of scores that have to be settled is growing all over Europe.

[@monkeeseemonkeedoo3745]

Sounds like nationalism tearing EU apart somewhat, everyone vetoes based on their national interest

[@inbb510]

Seems like diversity isn't a strength after all.

[@editorrbr2107]

@@inbb510never was

[@natenae8635]

Nah it’s just the balkans still want to fight each other. No one in northern or Western Europe acts like that.

[@JmKrokY]

@@natenae8635 Southern Europe built different 🥶

[@monkeeseemonkeedoo3745]

@@inbb510 I would say it depends on the context, like almost anything

[@eliasrutten3814]

Great quality video. Well researched.

[@llaqikufjet8231]

Albania is the most western oriented and politically stable country in the western Balkans, having no ethnic or religious conflicts. Could easily use the albanian people in Kosovo, N.Macedonia, Montenegro and southern Serbia to destabilise those countries, but chooses to be constructive. Yet less rewarded from EU, who always favour the toxic landlocked neighbour. Even in this video you couldn’t find a single major problem concerning Albania. Well regarding to corruption, organised crime etc., it is a never ending war,tell me a single country in the EU who doesn’t struggle with those topics.

[@darthcalanil5333]

The EU failed almost everyone let alone the balkans

[@Fluturim]

Who is going to bet with me that Albania 🇦🇱 will join EU within 2025 probably December.

[@grey3247]

I think Serbia has earned not being let in

[@bilic8094]

What a tragedy I'm sure Serbs will be heartbroken lol

[@anonymousanonymous31]

@@bilic8094 *Looks at average quality of life and economic figures for Croatia and Slovenia since joining the EU* Yeah I would be heartbroken if I was a Serb

[@YourD3estinY]

​@@anonymousanonymous31It never was any different, so they are used to it, I guess. 🤔

[@Flavor88]

It is interesting as many Serbs love to emigrate to EU but many Serbs look at Russia but don't want to move there. Talk about hypocrisy.

[@bilic8094]

@@Flavor88 Russia is a friendly country towards Serbia unlike the eu which only threatens.

[@Pinstripe0451]

The Balkan countries are responsible for their own inconsistencies and belligerence.

[@TheRealEtaoinShrdlu]

Show me ONE SINGLE EU country that has acknowleged and made reparations for all their historic war crimes.

[@wisehippo3072]

Germany. They paid reparations to jews after WWII.

[@Personoflordlycalibur]

Well... there is germany but thats an extraordinary circumstance

[@gediminaskucinskas6952]

Show me a country in general that has acknowleged and made reparations for all their historic war crimes.

[@cv990a4]

Other than Germany, what war crimes have Western Europe perpetrated on the Balkans?

[@peterfireflylund]

@@Personoflordlycaliburand Germany paid reparations for a war it didn’t start to the countries that started it (WW1, Versailles).

[@CarlosKTCosta]

Every time TLDR does a piece on EU i reach the same conclusion: The biggest EU problem is relying to much on votes and agreements and not enough on written law.

[@georgios_5342]

There is a mistake in your map. The Greek island of Corfu (Kerkyra) was shown as a part of Albania

[@Flavor88]

Oh no, that's terrible

[@tonymediterranean1017]

Relax dude . I’m Albanian from Tirana That lives In Florida. You can keep the island 👍

[@ndnsjensbsuiajs7514]

Not a mistake 😉

[@georgios_5342]

@@ndnsjensbsuiajs7514 classic Albanian

[@georgios_5342]

@@tonymediterranean1017 Not asking for permission but ig that's kind

[@MrLightweb]

Croatia's arguments are valid. A wonder which country would allow an agressor country to enter a political union with them while not disclosing the locations of the mass graves they filled during the 1990s. Shame on you Vučić (Serbian PM)

[@TzvetozarCherkezov]

Absolutely. And it's not just Croatia. Greece, Bulgaria, Romania all have very valid reasons to be skeptical. The post-Yugoslav states have not moved one bit since the 90s. They still think Europe is governed the same way their Yugoslav federation was. They don't want to change, reform and stop hateful policies, but require their neighbours to accept them. It's insane.

[@avalanche8414]

Finally a map with Kosova

[@bakimc4722]

As a Serb, I can tell you that I don't want to join the EU for all the treasures of this world, Serbia outside the EU is the best.

[@Drunken_Master]

You nailed the Vucic segment, the EU is keeping the dictator in power just to provide the semblence of stability in the region.

[@FilipCordas]

Vucic is not a dictator he is suported by a large majority and there is no credible evidence of election fraud... And he has been doing everything the EU told him to do without question even at experience of Serbian interests. He has also been sending weapons to Ukraine so much the Russians had to blow up a weapon plain a year ago.