By Frrok Çupi
Trieste is a city which is situated in the peripheryt of Europe, in the coasts of the “East”, but, in our case, it has turned at the center of the attention of the whole world. The last Summit of July 12, 2017, brought this ancient port of the Adriatic in the northeast of Italy to the spotlight once again. But one could easily see how many people have been stuck in the “periphery” of Trieste itself. It seemed to me that life was so empty for a number of media people who had nothing to do and “swarmed” Trieste from the suburb. If one hears what the majority of them have to say, then one would create the impression that the “Trieste Summit” on Western Balkans would offer a heap of old rags, where 6 countries of Western Balkan could take what they wanted and leave.
Media people were saying that the Albanian state was not that dexterous to take “more than the others” from the heap of things that were in Trieste… It may be hilarious.
I would have liked to be a “crazy” opponent of the government even in this case, but how can I do this? By pushing the Albanian state to “snatch more than the others”? This is insane.
But this is not the question.
The question is that the Trieste Summit did not gather to give out things. If we’re more attentive, we will notice that the Summit was something entirely different which deserves more attention even as an opponent, researcher or historian. But we must scrutinize it from the center and not the periphery.
What could Trieste offer? The Trieste Summit was prepared in a rush by EU leaders to shut the people of the Balkans up, as they were getting tired waiting on the EU accession. “Here you have Trieste! Don’t bother us any longer”. In this case, unable to expand and unable to accept new members, the EU created the Trieste Summit, a unionist like organization, which aimed at calming down the rough Balkan people. This was in fact the weight of the Trieste Summit on the Balkans, a weight which comes as a result of the lack of EU’s weight, of the crisis that it finds itself in. The fear of a virtual “Brexit” from a Balkans which would no longer want the EU, led to the holding of the Trieste Summit.
The EU leaders prepared the Trieste Summit in a rush, a few months after they had told the Balkan countries that there would not be any expansion. On 1 March 2017, in the Rome Conference, EU leaders said that there would not be any further expansion. Two days later, in the final declaration that the Summit issued, they changed their mind, saying that the countries would enter the EU one by one. At the beginning of July, only four months later, they built something else, which had no connection whatsoever with the Trieste Summit. This was done to offer a “carrot” to Western Balkans, making it look as if they are part of the EU, but part of a “specific organization”.
The EU did not organize the summit to serve the Balkans’ interests, but to build its alibi that it is not able to expand and restore trust. The EU is in a crisis involving its gigantic bureaucracy and the will of the European people for sovereignty and the protection of the “Europe of Europeans”, an idea which is upheld by conservatives. Hungary, Poland, France and Holland are seeking to leave the EU’s “bureaucratic slavery”. Through the Trieste Summit, the EU also settles an old issue with Turkey, which has never been able to become a member. In this case, the EU could tell Turkey: “Here’s Trieste, here’s your grouping”.
There’s no connection between Trieste and peripheral ideas of “the creation of a Second Yugoslavia”. I’m sure you’ve heard them. What a misuse of knowledge! It’s as if someone has lost his memory and can only recall Yugoslavia of 1945! But times have changed. The Trieste plan for a Joint Balkan Market has long started. The essence of the Trieste Summit was the Joint Market. Of course, according to the model that was seen at the very beginnings of the EU, when the European Common Market was created. But even the European one was not realized. Should we not be a little skeptic on the Joint Balkan Market?!
This topic may be discussed in a number of ways and its’ filled with mysteries, but it has nothing to do with a “new Yugoslavia”.
The Joint Balkan Market almost existed. Didn’t the Central Europe Free Trade Agreement exist for decades? This is CEFTA’s purposes, but this time, they replaced Central Europe with “Western Balkans”.
The difficult situation where the EU finds itself and which creates endless semantics cannot be prejudiced from the periphery.
Even less when the EU is perceived like a “divinity” and you perceive your country as a “sinner”. We could not have a “sinner” country if the EU was an “unmistakable God”. This time, the EU offered another carrot to the countries of Western Balkans, with the scope of keeping them attached, but the carrot is rotten.
We can just look at two figures (given that they’re dealing with the EU funds).
The first figure is 500 million euros from the Trieste Summit for all Western Balkan countries to prepare them for EU accession… (Is it not hilarious?!) What’s more hilarious is the fact that the EU leaders called it a “Marshall plan”. Imagine, half a billion euros in the 21st century, while the Marshal plan in 1945 was initially 13 bullion!
The second figure: CEF (Connecting Europe Facilities) in the Balkans is the organization that succeeds the Trieste Summit and this organization has offered 11.4 million euros for Western Balkan countries. Meanwhile, this organization has spent 1.6 million euros on the villa of the EU ambassador to Tirana.
I would once again like to be a ruthless opponent, but even in this case, we must not remain in the periphery…
Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy
