The heads of state of Western Balkans countries called for an acceleration of the EU enlargement process at a meeting in Slovenia on Monday as they urged the EU to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate country status and introduce visa-free travel for all countries in the region by the end of the year.
In conclusions issued after the summit, they also stressed that EU enlargement to the Western Balkans was key for the stability of the region. “Now more than ever, this has become a geopolitical issue,” said Slovenian President Borut Pahor, who co-hosted the meeting with Croatian President Zoran Milanović.
They also called on the EU to help countries in the region cope with the fallout from the energy crisis.
The meeting featured Albanian President Bajram Begaj, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s presiding trio Željko Komšić, Milorad Dodik and Džaferović, Montenegro’s President Milo Đukanović, Kosovo’s Vjosa Osmani, North Macedonia’s Stevo Pendarovski and Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić.
The conclusions were in lieu of a final statement. Pahor said that the idea of a final declaration had been given up during preparations for the summit, when it became clear consensus could not be reached.
The reason for this was the refusal of the Croatian and Bosniak member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina presidency to accept the mention of all three nations of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which had been desired by Croatia.
Milanović said that “some in Bosnia are bothered by the very mention of the term constituent nations.”
Acknowledging that the disagreement stemmed from Bosnia-Herzegovina’s current internal disputes about election reform, Džaferović said that electoral legislation was an internal matter of his country and that the Brdo-Brijuni Process was not a forum dedicated to Bosnia’s internal affairs.
Vucić said the conclusions were passed without Croatia’s position on the importance of “legitimate representation of constituent nations at all levels of governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” which Serbia would have supported because it was in conformity with the Dayton accords.
“We have displayed many differences and opposed views, but it was a civilized and rational conversation,” the Serbian president said, adding that the atmosphere at the conference was better than last year, even though the situation in the region was not.
Both Pahor and Milanović framed the meeting as a success. Milanović said the conclusions were “the lowest common denominator,” while Pahor said the discussion was “constructive and civilised; we focused on what unites us and not on what divides us, even though there was a lot of that as well.”
