Brussels, 16 December 2024 (MIA) – The ministers of foreign and European affairs of Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia, who consist the Friends of the Western Balkans Group, have sent a joint letter to the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, stressing it is time for a decisive progress in Western Balkans’ EU integration while presenting concrete steps to support the region on its path to EU accession.

In the letter to Kallas and Kos, the Friends of the Western Balkans says that “with Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and other challenges to our continent's security, the enlargement policy, one of the EU's most effective geopolitical tools, has received a new and strong impetus,” Serbia’s RTS broadcaster reported. In this regard, the Western Balkans will be the EU's geostrategic litmus test, the ministers say. 

"Only by integrating this region into the EU family, can we ensure the stability and prosperity of our continent,” reads the letter.

The ministers extend full support of the European Commission President’s decision tasking Commissioner Kos with advancing the enlargement process “in the coming critical years upgrading it with the renewed momentum” and with working on gradual integration.

“We will continue to support a more dynamic, credible and efficient enlargement process. A time has come for a decisive progress and we will continue to help the region make key steps on the EU accession path,” says the letter. 

The ministers call for the establishment of a clear agenda and timeframe for full implementation of the Growth Plan and advancement of the gradual integration into the single market and other EU policies once all necessary conditions are met. 

The Friends of the Western Balkans believes it should provide tangible perspective for EU membership and produce more visible results for the Western Balkan citizens, mainly the young, and contribute to strengthening their support for the EU. 

To achieve these goals, they encourage Western Balkan partners to accelerate the necessary reforms, engage in regional cooperation and prompt good neighbourly relations through reconciliation and resolution of open issues and to implement a common regional market, considered a “stepping stone towards the EU's Single Market.”

The ministers in the letter also call for enhancing the engagement and cooperation in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), proposing that Western Balkan partners should be invited to informal exchanges during EU’s Foreign Affairs Council meetings and informal meetings of EU foreign ministers – so called Gymnich - for talks on the security and resilience of Europe in the context of global challenges. 

The ministers also call for more frequent and structured informal exchange of views, cooperation through the Political and Security Committee, dialogues for the common security and defense policy, joint projects all the while proposing increasing the presence and visibility of the EU in the Western Balkans through “more frequent and coordinated ministerial visits.”

The Friends of the Western Balkans says that the EU enlargement, one of the main priorities in the coming institutional cycle, should reflect in the next multiyear financial framework of the bloc, proposing "better targeting of funding" for accession.

At the same time, the letter stresses that "the necessary internal EU reform process" should advance "in parallel with the accession process", without, however, considering it a precondition for enlargement.

It adds that the EU must prepare the citizens for future enlargements, saying that the communications campaign shouldn’t include only EU institutions and members, but also the Western Balkan partners.

“The main priority of the new European Commission is to promote European prosperity, security and democracy. In this new institutional cycle of the EU, the new momentum of our enlargement policy toward the Western Balkan should be the key motivation to achieve these strategic goals. We look forward to working with you and we would welcome an early exchange on how to make the Western Balkans accession into the EU a successful story in the coming years,” concludes the letter. 

The "Friends of the Western Balkans" is an informal group initiated by Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in 2023 and consists of the foreign ministers of Greece, Italy, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic. Its aim is to offer the Western Balkan states a realistic and credible accession prospect to the EU and to advance concrete progress on the path to full membership.

MIA file photo