Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán finished his diplomatic tour in the Western Balkans, where he was negotiating strategic partnerships, mediating between problematic neighbors, and lobbying for the region’s accelerated EU accession. According to him, the war in Ukraine should not get all the Western attention and money because the Balkan is Europe’s “last significant resource reserve.”
The Hungarian premier kicked off his Western Balkans tour on Tuesday, June 20th, when he—along with President Katalin Novák—traveled to Serbia to meet Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, to attend the first summit of their new Strategic Cooperation Council—a bilateral forum made of 12 separate working groups and headed by the respective ministers—which President Vučić called a “historic step.”
Hungary and Serbia have been on particularly friendly terms for a long time. The two countries not only have an exceptionally good economic relationship but also cooperate frequently on geopolitical issues that pertain to their immediate neighborhood, with Serbia doing the heavy lifting on the migration front to maintain order outside the Schengen borders, and Hungary staunchly promoting support for Serbia’s EU accession bid.
The Western Balkans’ European integration was among the main topics discussed at the recent summit meeting, after which Orbán stressed that Serbia’s EU membership is in the immediate interests of both Brussels and Budapest. “It’s easy to see that the value of your plot is improved by the condition of your neighbor’s plot,” the prime minister said. “We are interested in a happy and prosperous Serbia.”
Orbán also attempted to mediate between Belgrade and Pristina, whose relationship deteriorated rapidly amid the growing crisis in North Kosovo. The Hungarian prime minister told Vučić that he’s aware of the grievances that Serbs suffer in Kosovo and that Hungary does not accept the result of the boycotted election as legitimate. At the same time, he recommended the release of the three Kosovar policemen who were arrested in Serbia last week, saying that the gesture would increase Serbia’s international standing.
On Thursday, Orbán visited the neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina along with his foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, where he met the country’s leader, Borjana Krišto. Bosnia’s EU membership was the main topic at the summit as well, with the Hungarian leader expressing strong commitment toward Sarajevo’s accession bid again.
According to the prime minister, Europe is losing its competitiveness globally, and it needs to go ahead with the enlargement in the Western Balkans—the countries that have been promised EU membership decades ago, well before Ukraine was ever in the picture—as soon as possible. To his audience in Sarajevo, PM Orbán said:
The Balkans is not a problem, but the last significant resource reserve of the European Union. What I am saying may sound strange, but today, the European Union needs the Balkans … more than the other way around. … Accordingly, whatever is said in Brussels, we are in favor of a rapid accession of the Balkans … to the European Union.
Orbán also stressed that Hungary is pushing in Brussels to allocate some of the EU cohesion funds intended for the Balkan countries before the accession is finalized, to ensure the region’s development continues.
“We cannot have all the money flowing into Ukraine,” the prime minister said, arguing that the EU must focus more on the Western Balkans’ security and economic needs, for the benefit of all of Europe.
In Bosnia, Orbán also met with the President of the Serb Republic, creating another special, bilateral committee that will convene every three months to foster energetic, infrastructural, and agricultural cooperation.
