Memli Krasniqi: Time has come for the EU to prioritize Western Balkan integration

Chairman The PDK, Memli Krasniqi, has said that the Western Balkans seek genuine partnership with the European Union and that the time has come for the EU to give priority to the integration of the region.

“We are at a key moment, where the decisions of European institutions, but even our own governments, will form the future of the Western Balkans for generations to come. “We are at a key moment, where the decisions of European institutions, but even our own governments, will form the future of the Western Balkans for generations to come”, Krasniqi said.

He added that our “region has waited long enough on the margins of the decision-making process in Europe. The time has come for the European Union to prioritize our integration, acknowledging that Europe's future stability and prosperity is inseparable from the future of the Western Balkans”.

Krasniqi made these comments at a seminar in Prizren organised by the Democratic Party of Kosovo in co-operation with “Institute of European Democrats” from Brussels, with the topic “B E The Western Balkans: What after the European elections?

The PDK said this seminar was organised to discuss relations between the Western Balkans and the EU following recent elections in the EU and the establishment of new European Union institutions and to review the possibilities this moment presents in the process of bringing the Western Balkans and the EU closer.

The “Seminari, which is being held in Prizren, has joined politicians and members of civil society from the region and Europe, which have brought their expertise to this important debate on both sides”, the party announced.

Meanwhile, the executive director of the “Institute of European Democrats”, Mikel Burzak, from Spain in his opening address, stressed that “dramatic developments on the continent of Europe, such as Russian aggression in Ukraine, have shown how important the integration of all European countries into the EU is and how dangerous the delay is in bringing countries like Western Balkan states, and has called for both sides to work to get closer to<3x>

The seminar has continued with panels in which participants from the region and the EU have discussed what changes for the Western Balkans bring about changes in EU institutions, what lessons learned from the far-reaching process of approaching Western Balkan countries and what these countries should do, but also the EU, for this process to be accelerated and successfully closed, the party said.

The discussion panels included PDK Secretary General Vlora Citaku, Deputy Speaker of the Assembly from the PDK ranks Enver Hoxhaj and headship member Bernard Nikaj.