President Pahor advocates at the 2BS Forum for the new European Commission to understand the integration of the Western Balkan countries as a geopolitical issue and consider the region as a whole

After completing a two-day official visit to Montenegro, the organisers of the security forum, To Be Secure Forum (2BS Forum) in Budva today invited President Pahor to be the keynote speaker and present his view of the policy of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans after the recent European elections.

As per his experience and current developments in Europe and beyond, President Pahor initially assessed that the enlargement in the Western Balkans would not be the European Commission’s priority. In his opinion, it was necessary to maintain dialogue and negotiations with all countries in the region. He also repeated that the EU enlargement in the Western Balkans was a geopolitical issue and that it would be beneficial for the EU and the countries in the region if Brussels regarded the region as a whole. He believed that differences in temporal dynamics of the European Commission’s negotiations with each country individually would not be excluded, but this new approach would mean that progress was simultaneously encouraged in all countries and the dynamics of enlargement in this part of Europe depended on the joint successes of these countries when resolving mutual issues and implementing internal political reforms.

In conclusion, the President highlighted that the integration of all Western Balkan countries was not the central problem from the viewpoint of the EU’s absorption capacity.

The President is returning to Slovenia this afternoon.


Photo: Uprs