At the European Political Community summit in Yerevan, President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova spoke on a panel with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on one theme - the fight against drug trafficking. Her central thesis - Western Balkans integration into the EU is a precondition for an effective fight against this industry.

„The Balkans is a transit zone for narcotics operations," she said in one part of her speech, putting the emphasis on the way external actors use the area to destabilise Europe. Later, in a separate meeting with the Romanian president, she confirmed the position - „strong regional cooperation is an important factor" in European political unification.

The rhetoric is familiar, the context is fresh. The EU - which has been postponing Western Balkan applications for decades - is now facing a rise in criminal networks operating precisely along this geographical line. Albanian, Balkan, Turkish, sometimes even Arab syndicates use the region as a warehouse, a transfer station, a money-laundering hub. Siljanovska didn't say anything new - but she said it in a room where they haven't, until now, been willing to listen.

The question hidden behind her rhetoric is posed differently. Will the EU take Western Balkan integration seriously only when it sees a security threat to itself? History suggests something like that. The Kosovo crisis of 1999, the Bosnian one of 1995, the Albanian one of 1997 - each enabled a European response when Brussels realised the region's mafia tide had reached Vienna, Munich and Milan. Now the same is happening again - with drugs.

For Macedonian readers, the question is even more specific. How prepared are the institutions in Skopje to play partner in the fight, when there are already cases of police officials linked to criminal networks? Siljanovska is asking the EU to recognise the Balkans as a partner. The EU may well answer - but what is Skopje offering as proof of seriousness? That question, on summit day, isn't put to anyone. But in Brussels it gets written into solid notes.