CIRCLE 99: WRITER AND COLUMNIST NIKOLAIDIS – POLICIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ARE NOT TRANSPARENT REGARDING REGION, PRIMARY TO BIH

SARAJEVO, APRIL 16 (ONASA) – At this moment, the citizens of the Balkans are defending what are true democratic and European values, they are defending them from, unfortunately, those to whom these values are attributed as a permanent legacy, said Andrej Nikolaidis, writer and columnist, at the regular session of the Association of Independent Intellectuals “Circle 99”.
The topic of today’s session was “Who is blocking the liberal civil order in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and North Macedonia?”.
Nikolaidis pointed out that “something big” is happening in this region at the moment.
“There is a new reshuffle, a new distribution of power, and always when such things happen, the situation is complex and dangerous because in such reshuffles, as a rule, something goes wrong, in a way that the planners did not expect,” Nikolaidis said.
He is of the opinion that the policies of the international community towards the region, primarily towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, are not transparent.
“Liberal democracies call for transparency. However, I must say that it would be useful if the great powers practice what they preach. To rearrange the region in this way, while maintaining the rhetoric that everything is fine and that nothing changes, works directly against civil of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in that way work directly against the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because in my opinion, Bosnia and Herzegovina has no future if it is not a civil one, because it is projected in this way and tends towards the scenario of an impossible and unsustainable state, from which the West will at some point throw up its hands.” , said the writer and columnist.
He also pointed out that the United States of America (USA) openly supports the “Open Balkans” initiative.
“In spite of all the secret policies, there is open US support for the ‘Open Balkans’ initiative, and I think that is where the key to reading and interpretation lies. The European Union is against the ‘Open Balkans’. It has been very clearly stated that the priority is the ‘Berlin Process’. The EU thinks that the entry of the countries of the Western Balkans into the ‘Open Balkans’ is a hindrance and an obstacle to the ‘Berlin Process’. But the USA insists on the ‘Open Balkans’,” Nikolaidis said.
In the end, he said that at the moment “we have no allies”.
“At this moment, what are true democratic and European values are being defended by the citizens of the Balkans, they are defending them from, unfortunately, those to whom these values are attributed as a permanent legacy,” Nikolaidis pointed out.
The “Open Balkans” initiative was launched by the leaders of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia in 2019.
Since 2014, BiH has been part of the “Berlin Process”, which brings together six countries of the Western Balkans, with the aim of connecting them to each other before joining the European Union (EU). (end)