The European Union made a mistake by not integrating the Western Balkans sooner, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said on Tuesday, linking the delay to current security concerns driven by the war in Ukraine.
“Never before has enlargement been so much about security,” Kos told the European Defence and Security Summit in Brussels. “It makes us realize the past mistakes, namely not integrating the Western Balkans countries in time.”
Kos referred to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia — all candidates for EU membership — as nations that could have been admitted earlier. Her comments mark a clear call to accelerate the accession process amid heightened geopolitical instability.
The war in Ukraine has reignited EU debates over enlargement, with officials increasingly framing it as a strategic imperative rather than a bureaucratic process.