• Friday, 17 May 2024

Borrell: One country blocks whole enlargement process, EU must include Western Balkans in “its world”

Borrell: One country blocks whole enlargement process, EU must include Western Balkans in “its world”
Brussels, 23 June 2022 (MIA) – Today is not a good day. We should launch negotiations with two countries, but we can’t because one country blocks the whole enlargement process, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said ahead of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Brussels. He expressed dissatisfaction due to a lack of progress in Bulgaria in terms of opening accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania, adding that this shows that the principle of unanimity not a good solution for decision-making in the EU. “This case once again shows that unanimity is a problem in the decision-making. We cannot go on with a country that blocks everything,” Borrell pointed out. He stressed that the EU must do everything to include the Western Balkans in "its world", adding that this could be done by inviting countries in the region to attend meetings of EU foreign ministers and other events. “We must go on to keep the European flame alive in the Western Balkans,” said Borrell. However, according to him, there’s good news, i.e. the progress in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in the field of energy. “This is a very important step forward and we’ll continue to work on it. It is possible we have top level meeting by the end of the month,” the EU’s foreign policy chief said.