In a speech he gave at the European Parliament, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker warned that war might return to the Balkans if the countries in the region are left with no hope of joining the EU.
“I want us to always keep in mind the faith of people in the Balkans, to whom we offered EU perspective in 2003 in Thessaloniki. It was then that we decided to give them a credible European perspective. If we do not open up to countries in that highly complicated and tragic region, and if we do not open up as a European perspective to them, we will see war returning to that area as we saw in the 1990s. I do not want war returning to the Balkans and so we need to open up to them,“ said President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.
