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The leaders of the countries of the Western Balkans: Kosovo and Serbia should not stop communication

2023-09-11 15:47:00, Kosova & Bota CNA
The leaders of the countries of the Western Balkans: Kosovo and Serbia should
The leaders of the countries of the Western Balkans, gathered at the Brdo-Brion summit in Skopje.

At the summit of the Brdo-Brion Process, held in Skopje, on September 11, Kosovo and Serbia were urged not to cut off communication, while the meeting in North Macedonia focused on the European integration of the Western Balkans.

In a press conference, the president of Croatia, Zoran Milanovic, was asked whether it is more important to solve the open issues for countries aiming to join the European Union or to meet the criteria for membership. He said both are important.

"There are open issues, especially between Serbia and Kosovo, which do not recognize each other. These are two processes that take place in parallel and at the same time and I want to reiterate that I think that talks have value and the worst happens when the telephone lines are cut, it is death, death for dialogue, for communication for mutual understanding, but also for misunderstanding, when something like this happens. One of the most important moments in recent times has to do with the identity and self-respect of the countries of this region, this is when Ukraine received the candidate status before Bosnia-Herzegovina, this was inexplicable, but that's what happened," said Milanovic. .

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, participated in the meeting of the Bërdo-Brioni Process; the president of Albania, Bajram Begaj; the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic; the president of Slovenia, Natasha Pirc Musar; the president of Croatia, Zoran Milanovic; members of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zelko Komši?, Denis Beqirovi? and Zelka Cvijanovi?, and the president of Montenegro, Jakov Millatovi?.

President Osmani described it as one of the "most constructive meetings of the Bërdo-Brioni process that we have ever had", stressing that the main topic of the summit was European integration.

"The bilateral issues we have with Serbia are discussed in other forums", Osmani said when asked if the Pristina-Belgrade relations were discussed.

She again blamed Serbia for inciting tensions in the north of Kosovo inhabited by a majority of Serbs, as she added that the measures that the EU has imposed on Kosovo due to non-fulfillment of demands for de-tension should be removed. Croatia, according to her, is one of the member states of the bloc, which should be among the first to ask for something like this.

Meanwhile, the president of Serbia, Vucic, described the meeting in Skopje as "correct and good" and emphasized that there was no talk about his country's relationship with Kosovo.

"Prishtina and we left our problems for Thursday [the next Kosovo-Serbia dialogue meeting to be held in Brussels], so today there was more talk about the relations of the Western Balkans region itself towards the EU than about any something else", said Vucic, adding that the meeting of leaders discussed economic opportunities and overcoming problems in the future.

On the other hand, the Macedonian president, Pendarovski, during the press conference with Milanovic and the Slovenian president, Pirc Musar, said that in relation to the aspirations of North Macedonia towards the EU, there is a great imbalance between the traditional criteria for joining the bloc and bilateral relations with at least two neighbors of Skopje.

"We hope that this will change soon, because if in the Western Balkans you insist that purely bilateral disputes be resolved, especially if they are based on history and emotions, then no country from the Western Balkans will ever enter the European Union," he replied. he on the question of whether it is more important to solve political issues between the countries that aim to join the bloc or to meet the criteria required by Brussels.

The President of Slovenia, Pirc Musar, emphasized that the future of young people remains in the focus of the developments of the countries of the region. She added that after the Bërdo-Brion summit, concrete steps will be initiated, such as the inclusion of the Western Balkan countries in the face of natural disasters.

"We have identified the states of the Western Balkans to be included in the roaming of Europe, as well as the membership of the countries of the Western Balkans in the European Union mechanism for responding to natural disasters," she said.

The leaders of the countries of the Western Balkans: Kosovo and Serbia should

The Bërdo-Brion process is a Slovenian-Croatian initiative, undertaken in 2010 by Borut Pahor, then prime minister of Slovenia.

Its purpose is to strengthen mutual trust in the Western Balkans, regional cooperation and faster integration of this region into the EU.

President Pendarovski, on Sunday, organized a dinner for the presidents of the participating states, with the exception of the president of Serbia, Vucic, who announced his participation for Monday, the day of the summit.

The leaders of the states of the Bërdo-Brioni process meet at least once a year.

At last year's summit, which was held in Bërdo, Slovenia, part of the approved conclusions was the call to the European Union to offer Kosovo visa liberalization, while Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of a candidate state for membership in the European bloc.

The decision to liberalize visas for citizens of Kosovo enters into force on January 1, 2024, while Bosnia-Herzegovina received the status of a candidate country in December of last year./ REL





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