"EU must work on its visibility in Balkans" - German FM

The EU has to work much more on its visibility in the region, says German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

Izvor: Tanjug

Thursday, 01.06.2017.

16:11

(Tanjug, file)

"EU must work on its visibility in Balkans" - German FM

"It is particularly important at this moment, when tensions have increased, political divisions within societies have been transferred to the region, ethnic divisions which seemed to be overcome have reemerged, and the process lost its appeal among the population," Sigmar said, according to the European Western Balkans website.

The problematic situation is caused by home-grown problems as well as the impression that the EU has left the region, while additional financial means should reduce the social hardship, the German official said.

Andreas Michaelis, political director at the German Foreign Ministry, said that it should be achieved through "concrete common projects and that the number of the projects needs to be significantly increased."

Financial resources should not be seen as a problem, since the consequences of failing to change the current state would certainly be much more expensive for Germany and the EU, he said.

According to Michaelis, the change does not have to be an emotional change, but it certainly needs to be directed towards increasing the credibility of the integration process, while the idea "should be further discussed within the framework of Berlin Process."

Serbian Foreign Ministry's political director, Zoran Vujic, also took part in the conference, to say that although the Western Balkan countries should cooperate and support each other’s development and EU path, "they should be able to join the EU whenever they meet the required conditions independently from other countries in the region."

"Otherwise, we would be at risk of dealing with the serious problem of internal fatigue and disappointment in the EU," Vujic said.

The panel discussion on EU integrations in a time of crisis brought together foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, as well as diplomatic representatives of Kosovo and Croatia, Tanjug reported.

Komentari 2

Pogledaj komentare

2 Komentari

Možda vas zanima

Stiže novi "pakao"; Spremite se 1
Društvo

Stiže novi "pakao"; Spremite se

Kao u prvih 15 dana aprila, ovaj mesec će se završiti natprosečnim temperaturama. Prema najavi RHMZ u nedelju i do prve polovine naredne sedmice temperature će dostići letnje vrednosti.

7:21

26.4.2024.

20 h

Podeli: