Slovenian Prime Minister Jansha: If the EU does not expand in the Balkans, someone else expands

During the presidency of the Council of the European Union, Slovenia managed to restore the term “to membership” in documents, instead of a “European perspective” simple for Balkan and Eastern European countries, says Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansha.

“One of the strategic successes is that we have returned to the enlargement table as one of the main EU strategic projects. But this required a lot of discussions”, Jansha said in an interview for Slovenian public television, talking about his government's successes.

“I have said many times in these debates that after everything we've seen in the East and what we've seen in the Balkans in recent decades, it should be clear that the EU has to expand, expanding the space of freedom and prosperity, and if the EU doesn't expand, then someone else will be expanded”, Jansha said.

He said that at meetings in Brussels it has managed to include “the prospect of membership” in European Union documents instead of “European perspective” of European countries outside the EU, which, according to him, has been rejected by some old EU founding members.

There's always a lot of opportunism when it comes to the Western Balkans. One of the European leaders, I won't say his name, even said in the debate: Why would we bring to the European Union”, Jansha said, adding that in some older members, narrowness or “nationalist interests” dominate the vision of a free, peaceful and united Europe.

The European Project has not yet been completed, and many countries that want to become members of the European Union are not yet free. That project should continue and enlargement is the essential element of it”, Jansha said.