Following the adoption of the Strategy for the Western Balkans, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn held a joint press conference.
Mogherini said that the EU would share common future with all six Western Balkan countries in order for them to join the EU.
“The people of the Balkans and the leaders of the Balkans have made a clear choice – the choice of bringing their countries inside the Union. And today we are telling them we have made the same choice,” Mogherini told the press.
She said that the Strategy gave a shared perspective for EU integration for each and every one of six countries. There is clear need for reforms, so that citizens can enjoy the same standards as the citizens of the European Union, she said.
According to her, 2025 is neither a target date, nor a deadline, but a realistic perspective to complete the negotiation process.
Federica Mogherini described the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue as fundamental for Serbia, Kosovo and the entire region.
“Their cooperation and our cooperation with them is good,” Mogherini said and added that Presidents of Serbia and Kosovo Aleksandar Vucic and Hashim Thaci had started a new phase in normalisation of relations, one that can be carried out successfully.
“So the months ahead will be intense because we are deciding on the future of Europe. The future of the Union is not bound to be at 27. We are bringing the Western Balkans into the European Union not in a faraway future, but in our generation,” Federica Mogherini said.
“If a Western Balkan country meets all conditions by 2025, joining the EU is within the realm of possibility,” said European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, adding that the plan is ambitious but feasible.
“EU countries will never accept a new member with unresolved bilateral issues,” Hahn told the press, adding that it should motivate Kosovo and Serbia to reach a constructive solution to normalisation of relations.
“It is in the interest of all countries in the region to work toward EU integration and in doing so, they should help each other. The EU will help them to make progress in the area of rule of law, security, migration, connectivity, digital agenda etc.” Hahn said.
He said that EU citizens should be brought closer to the benefits of EU’s enlargement to the Western Balkans.
Answering a question about the role of Russia in the Western Balkans, Mogherini said that other countries were indeed present in the region but that no presence compared to the influence of the European Union in each of the Western Balkan countries. Hahn added that the EU accounted for 75 per cent of both Serbia’s foreign trade and direct foreign investments.
“Austria has invested four times more money than Russia in Serbia. Trade exchange between the Western Balkans and the EU has nearly doubled in the past decade, reaching EUR43 billion,” Hahn said.
