Six Balkan nations keep trying to join the European Union
The club seems reluctant to let them in
ON THE MACEDONIAN shore of Lake Ohrid in July, a choir was practising Abba’s “Dancing Queen”, forever “looking out for a place to go”. In a hotel next door, the leaders of the six western Balkan countries that want to join the EU were also singing familiar tunes. It has been 18 years since the EU pledged to let them in once they fulfil its criteria. The process is alive, says Edi Rama, Albania’s prime minister, but “moving—not so much”.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Knocking on the 27’s door”
Europe August 14th 2021
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