In the absence of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, and the office with King Felipe VI in Marivent, Pedro Sánchez has fit in the final stretch of the political course an international tour with a stopover in five Balkan countries.
The President of the Government knows the terrain well. One of his first experiences in public policy took place in Bosnia in 1997, when he worked for the office of the UN High Representative, Carlos Westendorp.
This background, the Spanish position in these countries and the prospect of the European presidency in the second half of next year make Sánchez the optimal European leader to act as a lawyer for the Balkan countries that aspire to join the EU and that can having lost the time in the queue with the express lane open for a Ukraine under the Russian offensive.
After his meeting yesterday with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, the leader of the Executive will chain several bilateral meetings with the heads of State or Government of Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania until Monday.
The good relations existing with all the parties will allow future commercial, defense and cultural exchanges to be financed, as well as to deepen those already existing with these friendly countries, they point out from Moncloa.
Although they come from far away, these ties had not crystallized, with the exception of Bosnia, with the official visit of none of the last Spanish Prime Ministers. Until now, that Sánchez has decided to commit himself personally to "reactivate, revive and revitalize the respective processes of accession to the EU".
The procedure is not easy and some of the community partners observe with reservations this journey now complicated by the Russian imprint in some of these countries. Currently, Serbia and Montenegro have already started negotiations, while Albania and North Macedonia have had the status of candidate countries for 8 and 17 years – Bosnia applied for it in March. But the talks suffered a break at the beginning of the year, to the point that all of them have been overtaken by the right because of Ukraine and its geostrategic value.
The differential factor for which Sánchez enters the scene, as sources from the Executive admit, lies in the fact that Spain can deploy a diplomatic action that is foreign and free from the delicate balances of Central Europe with an eye on the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2023. Mandate that the socialist wants to link to the aforementioned accession processes. And, as a first sample, he has offered the Spanish experience to spur the implementation of the democratic and economic reforms demanded by the European Parliament.
All this will take place in the final stretch towards the next general elections for which Sánchez will seek to boost his presidential image before the rest of his electoral rivals. He crowning it with his diplomatic mediation to promote "greater stability in Europe" after the cartographic earthquake caused by Vladimir Putin.
Sánchez's frenetic agenda will only slow down in Bosnia, where the most symbolic acts of the trip will take place. Spain had an important presence during, and after, the Balkan war. Both in terms of cooperation and military, in whose missions more than 45,000 members of the armed forces participated. That is why the president will pay tribute this Saturday to the 23 Spanish soldiers who died on Bosnian soil in an act that will take place in the Plaza de España in Mostar.
