The Western Balkans will be one of the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša and Foreign Minister Anže Logar told a group of Brussels journalists visiting Ljubljana on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 July.
“In the next 6 months, the EU will return to the issue of enlargement”, Mr Janša said, referring to the EU-Western Balkans summit to be held in Slovenia on 6 October. In his view, EU enlargement can be a strategic response to many dilemmas.
The Prime Minister recalled that Slovenia had always defended enlargement. “We are convinced that the basic idea of the founding fathers was to unite a Europe in peace, the whole European continent in peace and democracy, and we are convinced that all the countries of the Western Balkans deserve to be part of the European future”, he explained.
“Slovenia will promote an active debate on further enlargement in the Western Balkans region”, the Foreign Minister said.
The Slovenian Presidency also intends to include the Western Balkans as much as possible in the EU process to ensure that these countries can benefit from certain European privileges. “The Slovenian Presidency supports the inclusion of the citizens of the Western Balkans in the debate on the Conference of Europe”, explained Mr Logar. He also highlighted cyber resilience and cyber security in the Western Balkans region.
Asked by EUROPE how he intended to unblock the Bulgaria/North Macedonia file, which is preventing the organisation of intergovernmental conferences with North Macedonia and, by extension, Albania, Mr Logar said he would soon visit Bulgaria. “A solution must be found to satisfy [Bulgaria] and, at the same time, this should not open a Pandora’s box for the approximation processes for other countries. We must try to ensure that these bilateral issues do not impact on the substantive issues”, he explained. “We are all interested in finding a compromise solution that can satisfy all parties involved, answer all open questions”, he added.
For his part, the Prime Minister called for European unity on this issue. “When you are part of a family, the interest of the family members comes first and then you talk to others”, he explained. According to him, the proposal of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council to launch negotiations with Skopje goes in the direction “of a good compromise”. “It is in Bulgaria’s interest to have a new member state in the EU that speaks a similar language, a neighbour, that can support it in all EU matters”, he said. Mr Janša hoped that progress on the issue could be made before the summit on 6 October.
According to the Foreign Minister, an EU/Western Balkans summit “is the best way to develop political culture in the region and encourage countries to carry out reforms”. He called for such a meeting to be held regularly, as the EU has with other regions of the world. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)