BELGRADE: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday starts a tour of six Balkan nations aspiring to join the bloc amid signs that enlargement is back on the Brussels agenda.
Von der Leyen’s fourth visit to the region is an “important signal” that European Union enlargement is being discussed again, Heather Grabbe, an expert at Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, told AFP.
“The fact that she is going early in the second term and going frequently is a strong political signal of commitment and interest,” Grabbe said.
Her predecessor as European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on becoming head of the EU executive that there would be no enlargement during his term, Grabbe underlined.
For Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, von der Leyen’s visit is an opportunity to show that they are serious about the reforms needed to hope to join the 27-nation bloc.
EU’s enlargement to the region of slightly less than 18 million people is a 20-year-old debate.
In some countries public support for EU membership and the political will to implement reforms fell during that period. But the mood changed with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, that “re-energised the whole process,” Grabbe said.
“The geopolitical urgency around Ukraine and Moldova ... that has helped them along,” she said referring to the Balkan EU hopefuls.
Von der Leyen’s four-day tour, that starts in Albania, will have a “rather optimistic tone since another mechanism has been launched to move the entire region closer to the EU,” said Jelica Minic, vice president of the European Movement in Serbia, an NGO.
She was referring to the bloc’s growth plan for the Western Balkans adopted in November 2023.
To counter the economic influence of China and Russia in the region, the EU has proposed a six billion euro ($6.5 billion) initiative aimed at doubling the region’s economic capacity.
The plan is based on integration with EU’s single market, a regional common market, acceleration of reforms and increased financial assistance.
But payments will be strictly linked to reforms, notably alignment with the EU’s common foreign and security policy.
Thus, during von der Leyen’s visit the diplomatic alignment that EU candidates must carry out will be likely discussed, notably in Serbia.
Serbia has maintained friendly ties with Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine and refused to impose sanctions.
President Aleksandar Vucic thanked Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, in phone talks on Sunday, for ensuring that Serbia will have enough natural gas this winter.
“There is an interest in what she (von der Leyen) will be saying and doing in Serbia,” said Lukas Macek, a researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute.
“Because she was sometimes criticized, like other EU leaders ... that maybe they are not clear enough in telling Vucic, what are the limits, what the EU can accept in terms on internal politics developments in terms of illiberal tendencies.”
Vucic, who has maintained a delicate diplomatic balance between East and West, on Monday declined Putin’s invitation to attend the BRICS summit this week, citing important visits to Serbia as the reason.
Another hot issue that could come up during von der Leyen’s visit is the enlargement timetable, with some countries having been candidates for two decades.
Montenegro is the most advanced on the EU path, but Macek said he did not believe the tiny country’s full membership was possible before 2030.
“It is possible for some countries like Montenegro, and maybe others, to make sure that by the end of the commission’s mandate, negotiations are closed.”
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EU chief due in Balkans to discuss enlargement
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EU chief due in Balkans to discuss enlargement
- Von der Leyen’s fourth visit to the region is an “important signal” that European Union enlargement is being discussed again, Heather Grabbe, an expert at Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, told AFP
New US military-led group aided Mexico’s hunt for ‘El Mencho’ cartel boss
- Ex-official says US gave Mexico detailed target package
- Mexico planned, executed raid, Mexican official says
WASHINGTON: A new US-military-led task force specializing in intelligence collection on drug cartels played a role in the Mexican military raid on Sunday that killed the Mexican drug lord known as ‘El Mencho,’ a US defense official told Reuters. The Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, which involves multiple US government agencies, was formally launched last month with the goal of mapping out networks of drug cartel members on both sides of the US-Mexico border, US officials said.
The US official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, did not offer further details on any information that the US-military-led task force may have offered Mexican authorities. The official stressed the raid itself was a Mexican military operation.
A former US official, speaking on condition of anonymity without referring specifically to the task force, said the US compiled a detailed target package for El Mencho and provided it to the Mexican government for its operation.
This detailed dossier included information provided by US law enforcement, US intelligence, the former official said.
The former official added El Mencho was very high, if not at the top, of a list of US targets in Mexico.
Mexican authorities killed drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, commonly known as ‘El Mencho,’ during an operation designed to capture him in the western state of Jalisco. The operation set off a wave of violence, with torched cars and gunmen blocking highways in more than half a dozen states.
Mexico’s defense ministry said US authorities had provided “complementary information,” but offered no details. A Mexican government source familiar with the operation said the Mexican government designed and executed it, and that no US military personnel were physically involved.
An ex-police officer, Oseguera, 60, was the shadowy leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), an international criminal enterprise widely viewed as one of Mexico’s most powerful. He managed to evade arrest for years despite a $15 million bounty from the US for information leading to his arrest or capture.
The kingpin’s killing notches a major victory for Mexico’s war on drug cartels that are responsible for smuggling billions of dollars in cocaine and fentanyl into the US
President Donald Trump’s administration has waged a pressure campaign on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government to ramp up its crackdown on drug trafficking, including US threats to intervene directly in Mexico.
US MAPPING OUT CARTELS
There is little information publicly available about the US Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, or JITF-CC. Its website says its goal is to “identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel operations posing a threat to the United States along the US-Mexico border.”
US Brig. Gen. Maurizio Calabrese, who leads the task force, spoke to Reuters this month about how the US military is channeling its experience battling groups like Al-Qaeda and Islamic State to map out cartel networks.
“The cartels operate differently than Al-Qaeda or Daesh, different motivations, which makes it even more important for us to identify entire networks so that we can disrupt and dismantle (them),” Calabrese told Reuters, using an acronym for Islamic State.
Calabrese noted that estimates vary widely but said there were possibly a few hundred core cartel members “at the top.”
“But then you have anywhere from 200,000 to 250,000 independent contractors that will help you move these drugs,” Calabrese said.
Jack Riley, a former senior official at the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Trump’s designation of Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations last year
unlocked new kinds of US military assistance.
He said that could be helpful when it comes to US military intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources.
“Our surveillance capabilities are going to be probably unlimited, and that will really help with real-time stuff,” Riley told Reuters.
“But these guys are extremely astute at being able to cover their tracks, cover who’s in charge and where those people are.”
A second US defense official, speaking to Reuters ahead of the Mexican operation, said the new task force fit into a broader US strategy to combat drug trafficking that has seen the US military take increasing operational control of the border with Mexico.
It also includes now-regular US strikes on suspected drug boats in Caribbean and Pacific waters, the legality of which has been challenged by Democratic lawmakers and legal experts.
“The whole idea of creating an interagency effort is to not have stray voltage, is to bring it all together, synchronize it,” the second official said of the task force.
The US official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, did not offer further details on any information that the US-military-led task force may have offered Mexican authorities. The official stressed the raid itself was a Mexican military operation.
A former US official, speaking on condition of anonymity without referring specifically to the task force, said the US compiled a detailed target package for El Mencho and provided it to the Mexican government for its operation.
This detailed dossier included information provided by US law enforcement, US intelligence, the former official said.
The former official added El Mencho was very high, if not at the top, of a list of US targets in Mexico.
Mexican authorities killed drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, commonly known as ‘El Mencho,’ during an operation designed to capture him in the western state of Jalisco. The operation set off a wave of violence, with torched cars and gunmen blocking highways in more than half a dozen states.
Mexico’s defense ministry said US authorities had provided “complementary information,” but offered no details. A Mexican government source familiar with the operation said the Mexican government designed and executed it, and that no US military personnel were physically involved.
An ex-police officer, Oseguera, 60, was the shadowy leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), an international criminal enterprise widely viewed as one of Mexico’s most powerful. He managed to evade arrest for years despite a $15 million bounty from the US for information leading to his arrest or capture.
The kingpin’s killing notches a major victory for Mexico’s war on drug cartels that are responsible for smuggling billions of dollars in cocaine and fentanyl into the US
President Donald Trump’s administration has waged a pressure campaign on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government to ramp up its crackdown on drug trafficking, including US threats to intervene directly in Mexico.
US MAPPING OUT CARTELS
There is little information publicly available about the US Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, or JITF-CC. Its website says its goal is to “identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel operations posing a threat to the United States along the US-Mexico border.”
US Brig. Gen. Maurizio Calabrese, who leads the task force, spoke to Reuters this month about how the US military is channeling its experience battling groups like Al-Qaeda and Islamic State to map out cartel networks.
“The cartels operate differently than Al-Qaeda or Daesh, different motivations, which makes it even more important for us to identify entire networks so that we can disrupt and dismantle (them),” Calabrese told Reuters, using an acronym for Islamic State.
Calabrese noted that estimates vary widely but said there were possibly a few hundred core cartel members “at the top.”
“But then you have anywhere from 200,000 to 250,000 independent contractors that will help you move these drugs,” Calabrese said.
Jack Riley, a former senior official at the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Trump’s designation of Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations last year
unlocked new kinds of US military assistance.
He said that could be helpful when it comes to US military intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources.
“Our surveillance capabilities are going to be probably unlimited, and that will really help with real-time stuff,” Riley told Reuters.
“But these guys are extremely astute at being able to cover their tracks, cover who’s in charge and where those people are.”
A second US defense official, speaking to Reuters ahead of the Mexican operation, said the new task force fit into a broader US strategy to combat drug trafficking that has seen the US military take increasing operational control of the border with Mexico.
It also includes now-regular US strikes on suspected drug boats in Caribbean and Pacific waters, the legality of which has been challenged by Democratic lawmakers and legal experts.
“The whole idea of creating an interagency effort is to not have stray voltage, is to bring it all together, synchronize it,” the second official said of the task force.
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