The President of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, said today that he is visiting Belgrade to consult with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, about whether there is enough political will in the region to preserve the European perspective of the Western Balkans and stability.
“The war in Ukraine does not help peace and stability in the Western Balkans, but both Vučić and I agree that in the Western Balkans, regardless of all the mistrust and bilateral problems, there is enough political will to preserve peace and the European perspective,” Pahor said.
He stated that he thinks there is a possibility for all the leaders of the region to agree on three central issues.
“The first thing is for Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania to speed up the negotiations for joining the EU, for Bosnia and Herzegovina to receive candidate status by the end of the week, and for the EU to fulfill its obligation on visa liberalization,” he said.
Pahor stated that he was concerned by the fact that the level of trust in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is lower than it was before and that the dialogue did not lead to the solution that everyone wanted.
“I think that the Open Balkans project was created so that some things, if Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina were to join it, the problems that now seem intractable could be solved more easily in the spirit of cooperation,” he said.
When asked about Serbia’s position on the sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia, he replied that he thought that if there was a secure European future in front of Belgrade, he would think more about sanctions and not just about condemning the war in Ukraine.
“I do not support the decision of the President of Serbia not to impose sanctions on Russia, but I can understand his decision. I think that a greater and more decisive will of Brussels to include the Western Balkan countries in the EU more quickly would contribute to that decision,” he said.
Pahor visited Belgrade ahead of the summit of the Brdo-Brioni initiative, which will be held in Slovenia on September 12, reports Klix.ba.
