The comment is in response to the question of what Slovenia has achieved as the presidency of the European Union in promoting the expansion and overcoming the blockade of Bulgaria’s opening of negotiations on North Macedonia.
Logar said that Slovenia’s EU presidency’s plan has clearly emphasized that if the conditions are met, the EU has promised to make some progress, which means that if these conditions are met, “the EU has the responsibility to honor its promises”.
He acknowledged that there have been many criticisms of the EU’s failure to keep its promises, but pointed out that these decisions were passed by consensus in the EU, which requires a lot of diplomatic efforts.
“We are doing everything we can to make progress,” he said, but pointed out that the absence of the Bulgarian government has exacerbated the situation because “one of the interlocutors is missing.”
Since April, Bulgaria has held two elections and failed to elect a normal government. The third election will be held before the end of the year.
Slovenia will host the EU-Western Balkan summit in October within the framework of its EU presidency.
While emphasizing the importance and benefits of EU enlargement to the Western Balkans is an issue of strategic importance, the leaders of the European Future and Enlargement Group agreed that the region’s integration into the EU is crucial.
“We propose to invest about one-third of the GDP of the entire region, and the entire region will invest nearly 30 billion euros, and in the next four to five years, we will achieve fundamental changes in the people and the economy-it will have capital for highways and railways, Phase out coal, introduce renewable energy, invest in small and medium-sized enterprises, create an attractive investment environment, and introduce broadband Internet,” he said.
“This is what Europe offers. No one else offers this. The program will start this semester,” he said.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansha pointed out that at the beginning of the establishment of the European Union, the founders did not talk about East and West, but about Europe as a whole. “Expansion is a tool to achieve this goal,” he said.
He warned against expanding the future. Both the Bulgarian and Croatian presidents wanted to promote expansion during their presidency of the European Council, but other issues were considered priorities at the time. “That’s crisis management, and now we need to focus on the strategic issues of expansion,” he said.
According to Jansha, the enlargement of the EU must always be on the agenda, just like Slovenia before joining the EU. “We will do our best to take at least some steps forward.”
Polish Prime Minister Mateus Morawiecki also called for the expansion of the region as soon as possible, and pointed out alternatives for Turkey, Russia and China to increase their presence in the region.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti added that expansion will shrink the EU’s external borders by thousands of kilometers, which will be a major security advantage. He also stated that the expansion will reunite all countries with their diasporas in Western European countries, and pointed out that one third of the citizens of Western Balkan countries live in Western European countries.
Slovenian President Borut Pahor criticized the lack of progress on the North Macedonia issue. In his words, North Macedonia has made every effort to advance on the EU road, but has not received any return.
The Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zayev emphasized that Macedonia has no other choice but to join the European Union. “We don’t have any other family, this is our family,” he said, pointing to shared values. “For our motivation, we need the next step.”
Shefik Zaferovic, a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that the vast majority of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina want to join the European Union. The reasons are economic, ecological, social, political, etc., but there is also a very important reason-all six Western Balkan countries have it.
“We are surrounded by EU members. Expansion to the Western Balkans will relativize some issues-such as borders and make people’s lives easier. I would say the same is true for NATO membership, although not everyone agrees on this. “He said.
Albanian Prime Minister Eddie Rama said that he is very happy that the Western Balkan countries have finally been invited to participate in a speech on the future of Europe in Bled. “We are not looking for a license to become Europeans. We are Europeans, no matter what Europeans think… We are not talking about membership. But we are just joining the negotiations openly,” he said.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev stated that the integration process is a matter of dialogue and consensus. He said that reforms in various fields are of course necessary, but the fundamentals of the EU are European values. “So when we talk about expansion, we must not forget values. This must be a stable and irreversible process. To ensure this, we must return to values.”
Schengen membership priority
According to a report by the Czech News Agency, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš stated at the Bled Strategic Forum on Wednesday that the EU should first provide the Western Balkans with views on the membership of the Schengen area before completing the EU membership. Process, this is a complicated process.
Babis reiterated his point that, like Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania, which are currently not part of the Schengen area, Serbia should also be accepted.
In his view, Serbia should be the first Western Balkan country to be accepted because it is on the route of illegal immigration and is actively fighting against it.
Babis also said that although Bulgaria guards the border better than some Schengen member states, he has waited 10 years for the expansion of the Schengen, which he thinks is absurd.
He said that he believes that the EU’s decision-making will not become more difficult because of the expansion, but pointed out that the EU institutions need to be reformed.
The first day of the Bled Strategic Forum was accompanied by anti-Janša protests. The protesters launched an anti-fascist flag on Bled Island.
The protester said: “Through this, we want to send a clear message that we do not agree with Janez Janša and his government’s abuse of power,” and called on EU leaders and institutions to protect the rule of law in Slovenia.
