Eastern European foreign ministers support Bulgaria's efforts for Western Balkans' EU integration
11 October 2017 News
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva has received the full support of her counterparts from the Visegrad Four and the Western Balkans on the region's faster EU integration during the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council.
Zaharieva was in Budapest at a meeting with the top diplomats of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia.
They all voiced hope for acceleration of the pre-accession processes of the Western Balkan countries during the Bulgarian Presidency in the firsts half of 2018 and Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu underscored that the Treaty on Friendship, Goodneighbourliness and Cooperation between Bulgaria and Macedonia serves as an example for the whole region.
“The stability and prosperity of the Western Balkans is a long-term foreign political priority of Bulgaria and it was impossible to exclude it from the focus of our Presidency. The appeal to our friends is: make reforms for the sake of your citizens and not only for the sake of your future membership in the EU,” Deputy Prime Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said.
“We firmly believe that the European project will not be complete and Europe will not be stable and secure enough as a continent without the Western Balkans in the EU. Our goal is to have a clear plan for each of the Balkan countries at the EU summit in Sofia next year," Bulgaria’s top diplomat added. “We are a Balkan country and I am proud of this. When we leave history in the past, look forward in the future and are honest and open regarding our problems, we will achieve progress very quickly.”
Zaharieva underscored that, apart from political support, the six countries of the region willing to join the EU should also receive technical and expert assistance in the negotiation process. She also stressed how important it is to invest in infrastructure and connectivity in all aspects. She also presented the idea of Bulgaria’s European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel that the mobile roaming charges between the Western Balkans and the EU be lifted.
“We cannot be rich, democratic and developed, if our neighbours are not. You can rely on us for any kind of assistance,” Zaharieva said addressing her counterparts from the Western Balkan countries.
“We insist on setting a start date of the negotiations with the Republic of Macedonia and Albania and it should be no later than in the first quarter of 2018,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who hosted the forum, said in support of the intentions of the Bulgarian Presidency.
Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Jakub Durr said: “I hope that the Bulgarian EU Presidency will play a leading role in the process of the Western Balkans' EU integration. We cross our fingers for Sofia for the organising of the informal Council of the EU leaders and hail your role of an advocate of these countries in the EU.”
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