Strasbourg, 6 October 2021
The leaders of the European Member States and the Western Balkan countries gathered today in Brdo, Slovenia for the EU-Western Balkan Summit, hosted by the Slovene Presidency of the Council of the European Union. During the meeting, the EU leaders have expressed their reaffirmation of the European perspective of the Western Balkans and explored further cooperation to progress on the European integration of the region.
Ahead of the Summit, the EPP Group has published a declaration expressing the Group’s strong and unequivocal support for a credible enlargement process. According to the declaration, European enlargement is a shared responsibility and requires the necessary trust between the EU and the region and between the countries in the region themselves.
Željana Zovko, Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chair of the delegation for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo expressed her support for the EPP declaration. »As the text says, the enlargement policy is one of the most successful EU policies in the Western Balkans. We not only try to advance in the European project, it is also a matter of European security and stability,« Zovko stated
Zovko welcomed, in particular, the reference to the recent entry into force of the new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, through which the EU offers means and support to the Western Balkans for the necessary reforms. Zovko also highlighted the paragraph in which the EPP calls on the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina to advance on the electoral law reforms in line with the international and constitutional court decisions. »It is crucial for the future of the country that a new electoral law allowing equal representation enters into force before the next elections in 2022,« Zovko concluded.
You can find the EPP declaration here: https://www.epp.eu/papers/epp-declaration-adopted-at-the-epp-eu-western-balkans-summit