Czech lower house speaker: EU needs to prevent power vacuum in Western Balkans

The Speaker of the Czech lower house Markéta Pekarová Adamová has said the EU needs to be open to expansion eastwards, because if a geopolitical vacuum is created in the Western Balkans it will only be used by enemy forces. Speaking at the opening of a conference of European Affairs Committees of EU national parliaments (COSAC), Ms. Pekarová Adamová said that while EU expansion eastward is not a consensual issue, and she understands the concerns voiced by some member states, the alliance needs to carefully weigh the consequences of rejecting EU membership bids from this area.

In June, EU leaders formally identified Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for membership, two countries that applied for membership immediately after the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. In July, after years of delays, the EU-27 officially launched accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. The latter country had been a candidate for membership for 17 years. In October, the European Commission recommended that member states grant candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina.