Brussels suddenly remembered Serbia. After years in which Cluster 3 stood locked, the highest officials of the European Commission - led by President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa - got personally involved to enable Serbia to open those chapters. Diplomatic pressure on the member states that had blocked the process, and that in July, in the middle of the summer lull when Brussels usually sleeps.

The reaction from Zagreb did not lag behind. The Croatian media held their heads. „Jutarnji list” wrote that „the EU has really overdone it this time when it comes to Serbia”, describing the decision as an unpleasant surprise. Their message is clear: we did not expect Brussels to push new chapters for Belgrade.

And here lies the question worth asking out loud. Croatia was among the countries that obstructed or abstained from opening Cluster 3 for Serbia. So one EU member is actively blocking its neighbour's European perspective - and gets angry when Brussels unblocks it. Who here is obstructing whom?

For us in Macedonia, who wait at the EU's door like at a municipal counter - for years, with promises, with conditions that change along the way - this scene leaves a bitter taste. We watch how, for one, the mechanism suddenly starts working when the highest people in Brussels want it to, while for others the same mechanism knows how to freeze for decades. The rules, it seems, are not the same for everyone in the queue.

It is not about whether Serbia deserves to move forward or not - that is a separate topic. It is about the principle. When one member blocks a neighbour, then is appalled when the block falls, that is not a concern for the criteria. That is politics dressed in the language of values. And the Balkans recognise that dress from far off.

It remains to be seen whether Cluster 3 will really open or whether all of this will remain diplomatic theatre for one week. But the dynamic itself says a lot about how enlargement works: not by merit, but by the will of those who hold the key. And the key, as always, is in someone else's hands.