Slovenian President at the Brdo-Brijuni initiative summit for faster EU enlargement

Tivat – The leaders of the countries participating in the Brdo-Brijuni initiative emphasized the importance of good neighborly relations in a joint declaration at the summit in Tivat, Montenegro. Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović highlighted Montenegro’s progress on its path to the EU, while Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar stressed that the EU’s enlargement to the Western Balkans should proceed faster.

In the joint document adopted at the summit, the leaders of Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, BiH, North Macedonia, and Kosovo emphasized the importance of good neighborly relations and regional cooperation as key conditions for the region’s stability and progress. They also committed to further reforms, strengthening the strategic dialogue with the EU, and implementing the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans.

Pirc Musar emphasized that Slovenia and Croatia are the countries that most fervently and intensely support the accession process of the Western Balkan countries. As she said, Slovenia desires this process to be faster. “Our colleagues from the Western Balkan countries have told us, and I accept this criticism with great responsibility, that the EU simply needs to do more to make this process faster,” she said.

Slovenia is therefore working with Germany on an “extremely important project” of decision-making by qualified majority in certain areas of foreign policy in the EU Council, explained the Slovenian President.

The Brdo-Brijuni initiative was established in 2010 by the then Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor together with Croatian colleague Jadranka Kosor. The initiative’s aim is to strengthen mutual trust and assistance on the European path of the Western Balkan countries. (October 8)