3 minutes agoLajcak: EU priority expansion, Western Balkans take advantage of this moment
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)EU Emisari for Kosovo Dialogue Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, has said EU Council President Charles Michel said on Tuesday that the EU would be ready for expansion by 2030, he said from the official position. Lajcak has said this moment should be exploited by Balkan states [...]
Lajcak has said this moment should be used by the Western Balkan states.
This was a formal statement on behalf of the EU. He said the EU will be ready by 2030. If you Western Balkans are ready by 2030, then we the EU are ready. It's a big deal, we haven't had such a moment. For me, working with the region for 20 years, I do not remember having an EU that is more ready for the Balkans than the Balkans for the EU”, Lajcak said at the Black Strategic Forum.
Lajcak has said this moment will not last forever.
There are times when the EU deals with bigger issues, such as financial crisis, B REXIT, migration and then enlargement may not be a priority. But now enlargement is a priority. The message to the region is clear, not to miss that opportunity. There has been a sense of complacency that the region can wait and fix things within the EU and then deal with the Western Balkans. It was deeply wrong. It's our affairs and yours at the same time”, Lajcak said.
He added that if a good thing came out of the terrible war in Ukraine, then there's this choice of”.
“was a kind of alarming call, that we have unfinished jobs, we need to be serious about the region and that we can lose the region. It could be said that last year was very successful for integration and enlargement. Bosnia received candidate status, even Northern Macedonia and Albania opened negotiations, Kosovo received liberalisation. Why did he have no pleasure in the region? Because it was a long-awaited decision. The EU has captured this geopolitical moment, but will not last the moment forever. Using the moment”, Lajcak said.
