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Ljubljana – The former president of Slovenia Borut Pahor announced that he has not applied for the position of EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, although he was ready to take this position last year. He cited several reasons for his decision, including differences between his own views on enlargement and the official EU policy.
He advocates for the acceptance of new EU members as a package, and in his opinion, encouraging the rapid accession of Montenegro and Albania to the union might be “perhaps more of an obstacle than an incentive from the perspective of the geopolitical stability of the region”.
Pahor also believed that the election of former Slovenian diplomat Marta Kos as European Commissioner for Enlargement did not favor his candidacy, which he takes “with full understanding”.
He added that “through countless informal conversations, it gradually became clear to him that they are looking for a diplomat and not a politician for the special envoy”. Among the reasons for his decision, he also listed the short one-year term and informal announcements about the reduction of funds for the operation of the envoy’s office for dialogue.
The current envoy Miroslav Lajčak, hailing from Slovakia, according to original plans, would have his mandate expire on August 31 last year, but the now-former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell decided to leave the decisions about new special envoys to his successor Kaja Kallas. Lajčak’s mandate was then extended until January 31 this year. (January 3)
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