Serbia’s membership talks should embarrass the EU

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz looked on with uneasy pride as leaders from six western Balkan aspiring EU members gathered in Berlin to sign new agreements this Thursday. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also attended the summit, which aims to encourage friendlier ties in this fractious region. 

Agreements on the mutual recognition of ID documents and educational qualifications to facilitate travel and work should have been a moment for the Balkans to celebrate. But the mood was dampened as back in Serbia troops were deployed to the Kosovo border, the army’s alert level was raised, and a drone was shot down near military facilities at the border by Serbian forces. In a further escalation on Saturday, representatives of the Serb community in Kosovo announced their wholesale withdrawal from Kosovan institutions.

Serbia rejects accusations of sabre-rattling, but its habit of responding to vaguely defined external threats with alarming shifts in rhetoric and action sends onlookers at home and abroad into frenzied panic at regular intervals.