"Serbia is arming itself not only with defensive but with offensive, attack weapons. We have to say that to our Western allies. We must not shy away from it." The sentence was delivered by Gordan Jandroković, speaker of the Croatian parliament, at a conference of Croatian ambassadors, consuls and military attachés.

This is not an anonymous source, nor a party press release. It is the second most senior figure in a state briefing his own diplomats on what to convey abroad. The distinction matters, because sentences like this are rarely spoken by accident.

The European pillar and the American habit

Jandroković tied the statement to a broader argument: Europe must strengthen its own security and the European pillar of NATO, because the international order is shifting. For decades, he said, the continent lived leaning on American security guarantees, which led some states to let their own defence capacities decay.

That is a diagnosis hard to argue with. The question is what follows it. Strengthening a European pillar means budgets, factories and decisions that run for decades. Statements last one working day.

Enlargement is moving, but moving for whom

Another number arrived the same day. Enlargement commissioner Marta Kos announced that 2026 is a record year for progress on EU enlargement: in eight months more negotiating chapters have been opened and closed than in any single year over the past 25. Montenegro, she said, could become a member by 2028.

Eight months against twenty-five years. The figure sounds impressive until you ask why the previous twenty-five were the way they were. The region did not change overnight, nor did administrative capacity. What changed is the geopolitical calculation in Brussels, and that is a different motivation from merit.

Jandroković added something worth remembering: Western leaders often do not know the dynamics of the region, because the new political elites have no knowledge of the history of the former Yugoslavia or of Slobodan Milošević's politics. In other words, those deciding on the Balkans know less and less about what they are deciding on.

So we have enlargement moving faster than ever and allies who know less than ever. Whether that is a good or bad combination depends entirely on who fills the gaps in their knowledge.