The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, announced on Monday 15 November that the EU would involve the Western Balkan countries more in the EU’s foreign policy discussions.
“This will be done by involving them more closely in our Foreign Affairs Council processes and by improving cooperation on cyber security, hybrid threats, for example, the use of space data for agriculture, crisis management, natural disasters”, he explained after the Foreign Affairs Council.
The degree of alignment between the foreign policies of the Western Balkan countries and the EU varies from state to state and has even declined this year for Bosnia and Herzegovina (see EUROPE 12815/11).
“In order to push for alignment, we want to look for the space where we can benefit from mutual understanding and share our analysis and discussions”, the High Representative explained. He said that while the Western Balkan countries “don’t have to align blindly, they should have more information about our discussions on foreign policy”. “We are trying to get them to work more closely with us and to involve them more in the deliberations of the Foreign Affairs Council”, added Borrell.
He also called for the opening of accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia and an end to separatist rhetoric in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)