Western Balkans Summit, Paris

June 21, is the 20th anniversary of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Thessaloniki, Greece. At this historic event, the European Union and the acceding and potential candidate countries from the Western Balkans at that time committed themselves to each other.

The EU must keep its Thessaloniki promise to the Western Balkans.

International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana, Slovenia, has analyzed the current political situation in Western Balkans in the context of the upcoming EU-Western Balkans summit. Ifimes brings the most important and interesting excerpts from a comprehensive analysis titled "2021 EU - Western Balkans Summit: EU credibility in Western Balkans undermined?"

Greece does not support Bulgaria on the obstacles it poses to the European perspective of North Macedonia, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

Mitsotakis emphasized that the forthcoming summit between the European Union and the countries of the Western Balkans must have a "clear message about the membership of specific countries".

On the sidelines of the meeting of EU affairs ministers in Luxembourg, Szijjrt said that the enlargement policy is one of the most important EU policies, reports MTI.
According to him, the Union will pursue "policies contrary to its interests" if it fails to speed up accession talks with Serbia-Montenegro and if it delays the start of negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania.

"The European perspective continues to be a major driver of change in the Western Balkan countries and young people and the civil society in these countries play a key  role in this process," said caretaker Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev on Tuesday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva participated in a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Berlin Process. The initiative was launched in August 2014.

Participants in the process are the countries of the Western Balkans and EU Member States, including Bulgaria.

According to it, Belgrade and Pristina "agreed to press ahead with their efforts to implement existing agreements and to engage constructively in the dialogue for the normalization of relations, through the EU, with the aim of reaching a comprehensive and final agreement."

It "reaffirms EU's unequivocal support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans," and states tasks and principles the sides should meet during the process of EU integration.

An annex to the declaration has also been adopted, related to strengthening ties and cooperation between the EU and the Western Balkans.

According to a press release posted on the EU External Action Service website, the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy will travel to the Western Balkans April-19, and will visit "Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia."