The European Commission has answered the question of whether the funds for Serbia are blocked. The answer: no. Not all of them, not yet. That is a direct denial of what was said by EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos - that financial support for Belgrade had been suspended due to problems with the judiciary. Brussels quietly said: „The funds are not currently blocked. The Commission is still carrying out an assessment."

For those not following: Kos had previously stated that „Serbia cannot sit on two chairs" and that the country had „regressed" on judicial matters. That was followed by a claim that financial support would be put on hold. But when the Commission was asked directly by Euronews Serbia - „the funds are not blocked" - it became clear that one thing is the rhetoric of a single commissioner, and another is the official position.

What does this actually mean? First: Kos either ran ahead with a careless statement, or deliberately applied pressure with no backing. In either case, that is a political signal. Brussels wants Serbia to hear that the possibility of a blockade exists, without making an official move. In other words - intimidation without consequence. A standard tactic for countries in the „third-tier candidate" status.

The Balkans understands this to the bone. When you hear „the funds are not blocked, but the assessment continues", that means they are being blocked, just not in signed form. Delays, requests for additional documentation, „still being evaluated" - all of it functions as de facto blockade, while officially there is none. And nobody can say the EU is to blame.

For Macedonia, watching this from next door - a familiar film. Bulgaria played the same trick for years: „We are not blocking, we are only asking for guarantees". Result: ten years lost. Now Brussels is applying the same method to Belgrade, with the judiciary as the reason. What Macedonia should learn from this: a public statement by one commissioner is not a decision. But it is a signal that the decision is being prepared. Brussels never blocks all at once - it blocks through stubborn doubt, deferral and one-way negotiations.