Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said on Monday in Brussels that “the Western Balkans should remain at the center of the EU’s attention”, and he also mentioned the visit of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Dutch Mark Rutte to Sarajevo.
“They will encourage the reform process in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the aim of opening the accession negotiations in March,” Grlić Radman said ahead of the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the EU member states.
He also announced that he will “emphasize the need to closely monitor the development of the situation in Montenegro, a country he recently visited, in order to stay on the European path”.
The main topics of the meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the EU member states are the situation in the Middle East and the discussion of longer-term security obligations towards Ukraine and military support in its war with Russia.
The Croatian Foreign Minister has announced that he will call for efforts to de-escalate in the Red Sea and for more aid to be delivered to Gaza and for the release of all hostages.
As for Ukraine, he said that the EU’s support must remain strong and predictable and that it is necessary to increase military aid through the European Peace Facility (EPF), reports Hina.