I do, all I'm saying is that it is delusional to expect significant progress when the EU Becomes tied to one of the parties and gives it the power to use tge issue in horse-trading at the Council.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

You misunderstand, I did, and that's the very point! A longer candidacy period would have been more beneficial, a candidacy period extending until the conflict parties hammer out lasting solutions fitting into the EU framework. The prize at the end of the road (e.g. sitting on the table, be recognised, and get the money) was and would have been a motivating factor, and if the top accession negotiators and the decisionmakers in the Council had made it more clear to the leaders, the spirit of the (old) EU(EC) would have been adopted to a fuller extent.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}