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so
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well good morning everyone we know the
pandemic
has only exacerbated the recent trends
of illiberal influence in the western
balkans
economically the pandemic's toll has
resulted in
an average negative growth rate of
almost seven percent
which threatens to worsen living
conditions deep in economic and social
inequalities
exacerbate migration and brain drain in
the region
we know that russia and recently and
over the past decade china have been
engaged in the region
but the eu has been largely taking a
back seat
in the transformation that's been
happening now
some in the region perceive the eu as a
panacea still
others are disillusioned as the carrot
never seems to be
something they can catch eat and really
enjoy
and there's fears that they may turn to
other non-eu
alternatives so the big question this
morning
that we are going to try and address in
some form of fashion
is how can europe address these
developments
in our own backyard and do it more
quickly than we have in the past
few decades joining me is our stellar
panel
we have his excellency booyar osmani
minister of foreign affairs of the
republic of north macedonia
uh we have good uh his excellency gordon
girlich rodman minister of foreign
affairs of the republic of croatia
uh his excellency anjay logar minister
of
foreign affairs of the republic of
slovenia
and mr miroslav lychek special
representative for the belgrade pristina
dialogue and other western balkan
regions
he's of course also the former foreign
minister
of the slovak republic my name is my
three theta roman i'll be leading you
through this conversation
um gentlemen and i would like to start
with you
uh minister radman
set the stage for us realistically about
where we are
in the region in june 2021 we know
that the region feels and seems as
fractured as it was a few decades ago we
know all the issues
that have been spoken about multiple
times but realistically where are we at
right now
yeah thank you very much for this
question and uh
you know that uh croatia the western
balkan is an
our immediate neighborhood and
who more than creation knows
about the region and who more than
croatia is interested in uh
stability security prosperity of the
western balkan
it's not only up to croatia but it is
actually the
also the european union obligation
to uh to show to uh
and to to be more proactive towards
you know western balkans to have more
concrete approach the region needs
our help needs our assets estance and
your question where we are now we are
very close to
western balkans uh first of
all uh you do remember the croatia
during its presidency
our priority was to organize the
western balkan summit and then also our
friends our neighbors slovenia is
also going the the same where we
left off and actually it is the
disproactive
approach it's shown by european union
and
obviously also by the new uh us
administration as well
so we are here just our slogan was
a strong europe in the in in the world
of challenges
and western balkan is one of a challenge
challenge
and we should just enough to see that
western balkan uh belongs to
european union belongs to europe europe
and
we we don't want just not to put it uh
under influence of the third countries
as you mentioned under our your
outset so there are countries
needs a european perspective and we have
to
show it and we have to to get them mr
logar
do you agree that is where we are
realistically
um in terms of where we are at in june
2021 in the region
well what i see important is with that
we are on a way
we are moving so if i compare
this period to two years ago
the countries of western balkans are
again
back into the limelight so
the fact that we are discussing here
western balkans
shows that they're back on the agenda
and i think this is uh it required quite
an effort
from countries that are in the vicinity
of western balkan to put this back on
the agenda
on a proposal of a few european
countries among
them croatia and slovenia we recently
held the discussion on western balkan
and foreign affairs council and it was
the first discussion after two years
and this commissioner again brought the
portfolio
of enlargement within the
college of commissioners which proves
that
we are coming back to the
strategic question of the western balkan
this is as well one of the reason
why we decided to hold informal
eu western balkan summit during our
presidency
to hold a discussion very frank and
open discussion among eu leaders with
leaders of the western bulk countries
where the main question is strategic
importance of the region
when we talk about enlargement with
western balkans
it's you know a bit of false narrative
because
western balkans are within european
union
they are surrounded by the countries of
the western
union so we are not enlarging we are
just you know
holding the grip on the land that
belongs to european continent and
with this one should have in mind
that european union should be very
strategic
when talking about you know possible
threats from the third party
which might not have the same strategy
or vision for the region
as european union has and for that
reason
do its utmost in order to find the
solution for you know like uh
failure of the reforms or a stallmate of
the reform process
in some particular country so we think
that we should
come from you know uh problem
oriented uh strategy to
a solution oriented
strategy for the problems within the
region
and this requires a change of the point
of view
so i think we are on a path to that we
are not
yet there but when we approach
this you know uh goal i think would
we we will see the fast-track reform
process on the countries of
the western brothers i'm i'm rather
optimistic
oh mr doga's optimistic uh mr lychee
are you as optimistic you just finished
one of those conversations
they're tough out there well they say
that the pessimist is a
well-informed optimist when we speak
about the western balkans we speak about
the
six partners whose overall territory is
smaller than that of romania
and we speak about the six partners
whose accumulated gdp
is approximately similar to the one of
slovakia
we speak about the region that uh
has uh 70 percent of its trade with
european union
and who received 60 percent of its
investment from the european union
we speak about the relationship that is
extremely strong
european union provided 3.3 billion
euros to help the region fight with
pandemics the european union recently
presented
9 billion euro plan economic and
investment plan for the region
we speak about the region where the
support for the european
integration is 80 percent uh on on
average
so it should be a happy partnership but
it's not
and that's the problem the problem is
that
first of all what we do
what we as eu do for the region is
basically taken for granted
you have partners who receive 200
million
euro a year in grants and they will tell
you
eu is doing nothing for for me and for
my country
we are also eu has never been good at
being uh quick
so for example uh with vaccines when
the partners needed a quick assistance
it was not us who came first obviously
and overall and six months from now we
will see that
the european union has provided by far
the highest amount of vaccines
but when it was most needed and most
visible it was not happening it was
the russians it was the chinese it was
the serbs actually also
but the most important dilemma is
whether the promise of their future
membership in the european union
still stands and
there are some of the eu member states
who have their doubts
and and our part partners are also
questioning whether it's worth
to go into all these reforms when the
outcome
is not so not well known and when the
goal post
seems to be moved further away and we
are will say something about it
and the vision becomes more blurred and
this is the dilemma we are in
right now and the sooner we find answers
to this dilemma the better for
us for the eu and for the region mr
osmond that brings me nicely back to you
um one of those countries is not
macedonia
it's been years and years of trying to
meet the accession rules
um and the goal post as mr leicester
says
keeps moving realistically what
what is the position internally in
northern macedonia about the eu
is it it's an attractive proposition
anymore
well thank you so much first i'm the
only one from western balkans here
uh we don't like very much the name
western balkans we would like to have
some
european prefix in front of it so
southeastern europe would be better sort
of it gives us more confidence that
we're going there anja said
that the fact that we are talking about
western balkans we are meeting more
often
tells that the western balkans is on the
agenda we'll try to give
another perspective you have probably
noticed that there is an intensified
communication lately between eu and
western balkans it started in berdoriani
with the summit
tirana summit vienna summit berlin
process prespa forum dialogue
and my feeling is that this intensified
communication
tells that there is a widespread feeling
that the region is reaching a critical
point
some critical point and i think that
that critical point is the loss of
confident confidence in the credibility
of the european perspective
and the turning point to go beyond
that uh losing that confidence is the
unique case of north macedonia
north macedonia has started this journey
20 years ago
signed the stabilization association
agreement in 2001 after slovenia a few
months before croatia
just to put it in a context croatia this
year marks eight years of its membership
we have not started yet the accession
talks to join
eu in the same year we signed the
awkward framework agreement which
provided the frame to build a functional
multi-ethnic democracy
and today 20 years later this awkward
framework agreement is considered
as the only or if i don't exaggerate
as the most successful peace agreement
in the
ex-yugoslavia territory because it built
a tell that functional multi-ethnic
democracy can work in the balkans
and it can serve as a model for the
region and beyond the region
from 2005 we were granted the status of
candidate from 2009
11 consecutive recommendations from the
commission
that we have fulfilled the criteria to
start accession talks
and they were refused every single time
in the council
due to bilateral issues so we came up to
2018 when we signed the press bar
agreement
we changed the name of the country we
changed the constitution due to this
ambition to join eu we signed the friend
a good neighbor's treaty with bulgaria
so we accepted
shared and common history and accepted a
reciprocal bilateral clause on the
language
so issue at the with core sensitivity
for the identity of
people and we are still not there and
there's a feeling
in north macedonia that this is a moving
target
that there is no credibility in the in
the process
and why why is critical it is critical
because this process was based on
conditionality
on the ma the sentence which is very
popular in north in the balkans
if you deliver we will deliver and this
sentence was the main
fuel for the engine of the reform and
joining the region
but most importantly was the glue for
the contradictory narratives in the
region
that were sometimes conflicting
narratives and this eu narrative sort of
subordinates and keeps them uh together
and as this glue and this fuel weakens
the engine of reforms will slow the
conflicting narratives will detach and
go into some kind of entropy and we come
to the third question what is
what needs to be done i think the
accession talks starting the accession
talks is the solution
accession talks is nothing more than a
technical assistance
for the countries so eu need to adjust
anything to to provide the accession
talks but rather to assist the countries
to develop in complementarity with the
region
and i will tell something that maybe we
don't say it often
we are aware that we might
not join eu in this setting as it is now
our idea is that while eu reform itself
and get ready to accept new countries
and while
the region prepare itself to be ready to
get in
we need some kind of hook so we don't
diverge
we grow into different directions due to
dragging and pushing forces from
external forces
from internal forces and we never meet
so the idea of accession talks is to
grow together
hand in hand in parallel and sometime
when europe will be ready
to accept us we would be ready to uh to
to join and i think that the case of
north macedonia has become a litmus test
for this credibility
and june will be the first opportunity
for eu to respond to this unique case so
gentlemen i'll put it to you
um what is the carrot for north
macedonia
and the others at this point if um the
eu as you see mr
check is slow and the and the chinese
and the russians
the saudis the uae pretty much turkey
name
name name the country and you have a
circle uh of uh people just trying to
figure out who can get the influence in
that region what is the carrot that the
eu can offer
speedily which we're not known for
oh i would love to put it to all of you
yeah
first of all thank you very much but uh
before answering your question
uh really i fully agreed with the
uh boyer my good friend what he said
actually there are
western balkans was
really imposed and not asking that the
countries if they are really on uh
agreed with this name it is something
that uh it is actually artificial
er it's uh neither uh politically nor
geographically correct if there is no
western balkan
where is the eastern part however it's
uh more appropriate
a pro proper southeast europe but
however it's
so where we are now okay it's southeast
europe or the western balkans however
uh during their creation new presidency
last year uh our successor
outcome of their uh uh western balkan
summit was the
so-called zagreb declaration and we were
so happy
to uh to give other european uh
to hand over actually their the
optimism and and and good message to
north macedonia and albania uh meaning
that
so we actually opened uh their uh
according based under the on the new
techno uh methodology
to accession negotiation with nor
macedonia
and albania and uh so uh we look forward
justin
to start with the negotiations uh also
creation position
without further delay with north
macedonia because they deserved
really they they suffered also almost uh
16 years and so
they finally agreed it was only one
criteria or condition uh to change the
name
and its outcome of this
uh so long term
negotiation and i think so the european
union should decide on this matter and
to start the negotiations
with uh with norma cedoni and albania
because
the country wants to be part of the
european union
they uh fulfilled uh many of criterias
like
croatia did so we know that we are we
were we worked
also we have been working even even more
and not together and
know actually where they are now
on what they uh they reached really and
uh
they they made a big progress and it
will be in uh
so it's up to european union to show the
strength
and to show really readiness to start a
negotiation with norma macedonia in
albania
what's the carrot gentlemen what is the
carrot at this point
it's not about the carrot it looks like
we are holding the carrot and the our
partners from north macedonia are coming
to us
and we are running away from them and
the carrot is uh
rotting in the meantime so this is the
problem with north macedonia we have a
a unique partner who has done everything
we've ever asked them to do
and the ball is clearly in our court and
the north macedonian
case is a test of our credibility
because it's easy to
blame our partners but they don't give
us the luxury to blame them
so we need to sort it out if we if we
are serious and if we want to be seen as
credible partners for
for for the balkans and not only the one
who supplies money but
uh is unable to influence the
development and for me
this is not about north macedonia's
european future
it's also about you european union's
credibility is a global player
it's about our ability to influence uh
in a european way our immediate
neighborhood
it's about our our ability to be
partnered to united states for example
if we cannot act as as a strong actor in
the balkans
where else are we expected to play at
this role
so that means if we fail in the balkans
we have failed as a global
actor as a as a foreign policy player as
the european union
so this is what we because there are
some among us who think that
membership perspective is some a gift
from us it's one way straight something
we give to the region
no it's an investment that will of
course bring us very strong powerful
return to us
from the region but also wider mr how do
you convince
uh those within the eu who are still
unconvinced um bulgaria for example
uh when it comes to this particular
issue or other countries who are
still reticent to back the accession
how do you do it i mean you guys have
tried well if it was so simple
we wouldn't discuss there here no there
you go we would already
be starting negotiation with the
european union
regarding the question what's the carrot
i completely agree with
uh miroslav what might be a carrot is
the european way of life
i mean why they want to join european
union
it's because living standards are high
that's the community that's based on the
rule of law
and we know how you know well advanced
how the procedure are taking place
and this is the question of
decryptability of the european union so
we settled the rules now we have to
fulfill the rules we have to
be accountable on the rules we put
forward
so this is the question of
27 more than the question of republic of
north macedonia
and we will have to solve it within us
but as i said european union is based on
the rule of law
and we have a very strict
decision-making process that requires
unanimity and unless we have all on
board
we have no decision taken so from then
on
it's the question of the diplomacy how
we do it and
now this question of igc
intergovernmental conference is at the
cradle
of everything now so this is the main
issue everything is focused on this
you know it reminds me like when you
have a small stone
and you have a fence with a lot of you
know free space and
some sticks it in and when you throw it
i mean almost every time you catch the
the stick not the empty space why
because you automatically focus yourself
on the target
and it seems like you here when we all
focus on igc
and everything is concentrated on the
igc but igc is just you know like a
procedural step forward of the political
decision that was already
adopted in march 2020 so
it's not everything start and stop now
but it just you know passage in the
process that
will take some time and i think that the
the
the task of the diplomacy now is
how to overcome now this focus and start
to talk about the real issues so
how to reform on their own the
system of north macedonia an order that
will fit
for european union uh system and and
this is in benefit of
fellow citizens of of boyer
in order they will get the most for the
the membership will be just you know
final face
when we will all say yeah i mean they
fulfilled everything
and he's one of us well while i wait for
uh someone backstage to bring me uh the
online
audience's questions um and the tablet
that requires me to
read it out i'd like to open the floor
to all of you
for your questions we of course have
all of our mic handlers with with the
mics if you have a question please raise
your hand
name organization and a question if i
can start with the gentleman
here on my right
in the front row and then if i can get a
question from
the person at the back and here in the
front as well so first person
mr ministers thank you for uh
interesting points raised here i'm
miracle gavin joshua
from the university of glasgow
representing south european studies
program
so we include the western balkans in
southeast southeast europe at our
university
my question is that um although the
skopje and
sophia are the closest capitals in the
european union
both remain pretty much disconnected uh
you know there is neither a direct
uh for instance director railway system
or nora highway connecting the
two countries how the european union
sees itself
in connecting or bridging the two
nations
because there are impending issues which
uh derailed the start of the
uh negotiating accession negotiations
thank you
who wants to take that this is for me
yeah i guess
well this is true from skopje to sofia
there are 200 kilometers average from
skopje to tirana
is the same 200 kilometers but to drive
from skopje to sofia you need five
hours and this is bad bad for people to
people contact
bet for businesses but
in connectivity was at the core of
berlin process
connectivity is at the core of the new
investment regional investment plan that
was mentioned here by
a special representative of 9 billion
with additional 20 billion
of uh of cheap loans so we are working
on that
the bilateral treaty that we signed with
bulgaria in 2017 was a turning point in
our relations
the main pages of this agreement
are about sectorial cooperation
unfortunately
the impediments are in the historic and
identity issues
but the agreement is about expanding
sectoral cooperation
and we are working on on that we are
working on the railway which is part of
corridor eight that links skopje to
sofia
uh 120 millions are grant from
pre-accession funds and the rest is
a loan from ebrd and the dynamic is
is going is going well the same is
happening on the
on the highway so this is the future
and it's important that we continue to
focus on connectivity and
infrastructure we have a question before
i go back to the audience
from um our online audience nanad
brings up the question of china which we
can't avoid
um asking how will china's growing
presence in the western balkans affect
the region in economic environmental and
other terms
i know a number of experts will say that
it is largely exaggerated in terms of
the
amounts of infrastructure and amount of
investments that have come in a lot of
promises made a lot of deals announced
but
um it kind of fizzles out at the end of
the day um
where do you see this um if i can start
with you mr electric um
is china's influence something to be
exceedingly concerned about
and will it change the region
i am not worried about the presence and
activities of
so-called third actors in the region
first of all we do not own the western
balkans it's legitimate that other
countries
are interested we know that
no one has an offer that can beat the
offer from the european union
there are examples of chinese
investments in the region
and these are not happy examples go to
montenegro and ask them about the
about the project of the highway and the
loan uh
there are other projects clearly uh the
the the
the financial conditions of of of their
loans are
way more difficult and less beneficial
than the one the ones from
the european union uh so as i said
the the region is already embedded in
the european economic and financial
uh space so this is not the this is
this is not a worry what what is our
worry is to complete
the integration the political
integration of the western balkans and
then
of course the region is open to to any
other countries but
i i think that as i said the competition
will clearly show and already shows
that the european uh european
cooperation is the best cooperation they
can have
would you all agree with that that
china's influence is nothing to worry
about
including attempts to you know buy media
companies etc
i fully agree then with mr leichhardt
actually
it's to some extent a methodology uh
mythology
um we should just not to uh
to respect the the fact that so
china is not enemy but we should
see uh and uh china is
as a partner and to to build
among the european union however a
partnership of course with
with uh with china based on the rule of
law of course
competition actually uh based on the
european uh
values uh i'm
i also don't see that so that the
influence of china and the western
balkans so that so it's something that
should
award us in among the european union
although
all the chinese also um sometimes on the
agenda of the
of the council of the european union uh
but of course um
there we have to uh to have um
economically or politically
of course that it's in the part of the
uh
world order china is the fact and but
it's something that uh it's not
sold or influenced like it's going to be
shown there
uh in the in europe in europe in the
world
um so this of course there is in a
format so called
16 plus or 17 plus one but uh
so our every country has an uh uh
of course and the connections with
china's and china
uh helped us also during the epidemic
crisis it should not have been forgotten
also the
the the chinese rule uh in this very
very difficult time
you know that so uh actually we are
the pandemic crisis forced us to adapt
to the new reality and uh
we we we were just an uh
we are we tried to find a common
solution and
of course the china was also part of
this
solution well when it comes to
external factors i'm more worried about
their impact through soft power on
ideological cultural and religious basis
through from moscow to to middle east
rather than
economic and financial incentive
and also through hybrid threats and
attempts to
permanently keep the region into a
destabilization mode
financially as mr leichack said the
offer from third parties is uncomparable
to the one that we have with eu we are
as it was said an island surrounded by
eu and nato member states
our economy 85 is linked with eu
it's 10 10 to 15 percent within the
region
and it's only one percent with russia or
china
so i don't see it as a threat the first
phase of attempts through through loans
in infrastructure
failed in north macedonia the main
highway
that was financed through chinese loan
failed i think
it's causing a problem in montenegro and
this is
is creating a an inhibition to further
continue with this so i would put
emphasis
on these two aspects cultural influence
and hybrid hybrid threats
mr loka
i would separate this question from the
topic we discussed before this
enlargement process where european
union got it gave its promise and now
should stick to the promise now we are
talking about the other side so the
countries of the western balkans
before they are entering european union
they are you know
free countries they decide on their own
but as well with their decision it's
their policy mix
they are showing so if their decisions
are
complete um let's say
opposite side as a foreign security
policy decision of the european union
well i see this is a problem yeah for
sure
and if someone wants to join and become
a member of
european union that it's uh
let's say based on the rule of law and
uh common principles
i guess it had to show as well with its
decisions within the you know this
geostrategical pool of
political decisions so uh one
one cannot just you know easily
throw away the question of the
possibility of thirst parties
entering the region but it's not the
sole responsibility of european union
it's as well responsibility of the
countries of the western balkans
but in order to have them on board as i
said the precondition is
that the european union sticks to its
promises
so everything is interconnected but
both parts bears its share of their
policy
making it'll be interesting to see how
that plays out i would like to take a
question from the gentleman
in the middle seat here please and then
move on
good afternoon my name is samuel i'm
from boston i'm here with the um
globsec young leaders cohort um i'm
honestly a bit surprised and and
disappointed that there are no more
western balkan representatives here on
the
um on the panel including for example
representatives from
kosovo who cannot whose citizens cannot
move freely throughout schengen area
which is another issue i would like to
emphasize here i'm here with 10 of my
colleagues
from the region we should have been 12
however two of our friends colleagues
could not travel from kosovo
in schengen because of um visa
liberalization problems
so my question here is when is eu
going to enable visa free travel for
um cost of our citizens because again
the cost of our government has delivered
in this case the eu has not delivered on
its promise
and i'm not asking this only because of
my cost of our friends i'm asking
because
of why should my country officials
corrupt officials in bosnia
trust eu officials next time when they
tell them to
deliver knowing what happened to north
macedonia what happened to
kosovo thank you for your question um i
think mr hijack that's yours
look if you don't trust go somewhere
else if you think you have a better
option
the european union is never begging
anyone to to join i think it's the
strategic
choice of your guys to want to join the
european let's be clear about it as the
point number one
point number two the cr the issue of
visa liberalization by the way andre and
i were in a different panel in a
different place
last week and the foreign minister of
kosovo was with us so there are
many opportunities where we interact
yes it is a painful issue the fact is
that kosovo has been
left alone in the last
in europe without visa-free regime
and and the fact also is that uh
european commission said already in 2018
that they fulfilled the criteria
european parliament said that they
fulfilled the criteria and should get
the
the visa free regime but the body that
decides is the european council which
means
27 member states which the which
delivers decisions on the basis of
consensus and there is no consensus
so this is what it is uh i really i get
slightly annoyed when i say that
eu has failed and delivered on its
promise this is not about delivering it
i i strategically we should do better in
integration but when it comes to
to the visas there are member states who
have questions
and these questions are not of
ideological nature these questions are
simply related to their security to
guarantees that the visa regime will not
be
misused for illegal work overstaying you
know
you name it so that's why instead of
going
around bashing the european union for
not delivering its promise
it's better to go to those member states
and ask how can we convince you
what do you want to hear from us what
guarantees should we present
to make sure that once we will grant the
green light
it will not be misused this is the right
approach going around and criticizing
european union which is now the fashion
in the region
really does not help does not help ms
lecher yesterday
you uh you talked about the fact that um
there's been progress in the dialogue
there's a commitment from serbia and
kosovo
to normalize relations in a
comprehensive way
i have been following your twitter um
but is that simply
rhetoric because we've been down this
road before it's a complicated situation
um we've had um you know
things happen in washington in the last
couple of years that took us nowhere
where is it realistically what is the
expectation realistically
um for where this dialogue's headed
what does comprehensive even mean now
very clear that
uh the status quo
that exists between serbia and kosovo
holds the entire region back
and therefore we need to normalize
relations and this is
the process that the european union has
been facilitating
and uh it's extremely sensitive and
difficult challenging
yesterday in brussels we had the first
meeting between
uh president vouche and the newcastle
prime minister kurti
it was not easy at all but what was
important is that
both parties committed to the process
both parties committed to the
need to normalize the relations and
they also committed to continue the
process of course they
their expectations from the processes
are very different
and it it is an uphill battle
but it is as i said in the interest of
the entire region in the first place and
of course in the interest of european
union so there is no
alternative to this process and we will
continue investing
time and efforts and energy into helping
them to
to find the the the future
status of their relations that will
really help to move the entire region
forward
i want to get both of your perspectives
and i think uh mr
minister admin i'd like to start with
you and also uh the rest of you
about what's going on in that region and
how comprehensive
relations and development can happen so
first of all
croatia was uh the first country in
slovenia as well so as
i mentioned it we are published issued
an
unknown paper on bosnia herzegovina
signed by uh five other countries
but uh when it comes to kosovo um
okay we are just initiated under fsc
uh the comprehensive debate on western
western balkans and we
did actually in uh last last month
and we are going also to speak uh on
another fac
uh sometimes in in july but when it
comes
uh to kosovo uh for the first
time in my life as a minister i recently
visited uh visited kosovo
and i was impressed with the talks with
our with the leadership
in kosovo and uh actually i see that uh
i spoke to them and they were not so
um happy with this order first
dialogue belgrade prisoner and then
miserably liberated
so our their proposal uh is and uh first
visa liberalization and we strongly
support it
uh from creation point of view they
deserve it
to also to to go abroad and to have
passports and
to be uh just to to shun the free
movement uh
uh in the european union and it could
just relax
relax the the better dialogue between
uh belgium but even more
croatia is also via encouraged on the
face
uh our countries you know that so there
are five countries
and the european union do not recognize
the independence insurance of kosovo
i think it's the ones we are uh
among the european union have the the
same approach towards kosovo
i think so that the future of kosovo is
there
yeah first i would like to compliment on
what
uh mr admon said that
visa liberalization for kosovo is
important because
uh it's part of the conditionality that
i was
talking before so if you say to a
country that if you deliver
we will deliver and then you fail to
deliver on that
then it cause it has a consequences and
ramifications further for the
for the region and therefore in
principle is important
without going into details who is
against and who is what
but in regards to the region i would say
there are two competing
visions for the region one is the
european one
which means more democracy more
cooperation
more trade more rule of law and
less border and the com the other vision
which is
more borders maybe optionally on ethnic
basis and we know
what this debate cost us in
1990s and here i don't think we should
take for granted the success we have
achieved
and we have achieved only because of
that european perspective and the
european fuel
the region that was 20 years ago in war
trenches
last year within our presidency with the
berlin process
we signed in sofia a common regional
market
a market of 18 million people without
borders
without tariffs with four freedoms
included
in it and this is a huge success
so the current law point
in the relations between the eu and the
western balkans
i would try i'm trying to see it as a
segment
in the relations between us it's not a
constant
our road to eu is an irreversible
process
it started in 2001 confirmed with the
saloniki pledges for
membership and the association process
is going is going there it's an
amplitude
that we need to work on in order to
continue the path
we had one more question uh from the
audience could you make it very quick
and to whom you're addressing it too as
well
we only have about five minutes left
thank you uh it's a very precise
question for minister osmani
minister osmani if the eu tomorrow
offered uh
north macedonia to sign an accession
treaty within
a period of five years an accession
treaty which would for a temporary
period
uh ensure grant north macedonia
membership
but membership with some reduced rights
reduced rights
in a temporary like let's say with some
derogations and
provisions for more gradual accession
over time
with post membership conditionalities
clear conditionalities for north
macedonia to enter deeper
uh layers of membership would you be uh
against or for that
this is a very sensitive debate since
if i say yes that would mean that we are
quitting our ambition for full
membership
but i will be on i will be honest with
you
it's not the main most important
priority
of the citizens of the western balkan to
have a commissioner
in eu commission or to have an e
more eu parliamentarians or to have a
right to veto
eu foreign policies their ambition is to
have
access to responsibilities and
privileges
of the common market of the for freedom
to have access to to sustainable grants
to have access to
to cheap loans development loans in
order to
improve their living standard to have
the opportunity to travel freely
to educate their children in
eu countries and i think this is the
first and foremost ambitions that we
need
to work on the new methodology envisages
this
opportunity that there will be a phase
in
uh access to different programs
of eu as long as you meet certain
criteria you close some chapters
or or clusters but it's important to
start
the process the problem here with the
credibility
is because of the symbolism of not
moving forward
and i said at the beginning i know that
we will not join
eu soon and maybe not even in this
in this setting the problem is that the
symbol
symbolic that has created the dossier of
north macedonia
by waiting 16 years just to start the
process
it's hitting hardly the credibility of
the process
and credibility is the fuel and
credibility is the glue that i was
talking about
that brings me to my final question to
all of you because we have
run out of time um at times when you
look at the
region you think that we are looking at
a 1990s problem with the 1990s mindset
looking for 1990s solutions
this is 2021. um we are still talking
about redrawing borders
in terms of some papers that came out
we're talking about concerns about rule
of
law that you have all brought up we are
talking about uh
numbers where uh polls have suggested
that many people
within the region prefer an autocratic
system of government
governance rather than democratic which
leads to a gap in eu
value systems and what's going on in the
region
from your perspective um do we need
a new 2021 or 2020s
way of approaching the region and how we
resolve the issues to finally
say we can put the past in the past mr
leichick you want to start
yes i think we need
this new approach because the fact is
that nowadays we have
problem to
adopt the same language that we adopted
15 years ago
that means we are not moving in the
right direction we also need to
see the big picture as i said we are
lost in
in this bureaucratic language in
chapters and clusters and corruption and
rule of law
and we don't see people we don't see
people's hopes
and the hopes that are linked to
european union
we don't see the picture of european
continent
with western balkans being part of us of
our value system
or europe with western balkans would be
part of a different system what would it
mean for us
and as i already said in my first
entry that we also don't see
the region as a part of our own
demonstration of ability to
to be a global player so this is this is
missing in our discussion so
uh it is first and foremost a political
process
and we and we must not get lost in
technicalities of this political process
well i've been told that we're running
out of time so very very quickly if i
can get in a sentence
quickly what you what each one of you
thinks is a 2020 solution
to this issue to move it along quickly
well it's our presidency there you go
we will do our utmost but as i said this
is the problem of
27 member state and as well
uh it's a green light from all of
us to to proceed so i think we just need
to move
forward when we move forward one or the
other way i think that
we'll go through the to the final line
mr admin yeah we support eu presidents
of slovenia as our
neighbor of course but uh so uh we have
to have a you know there are six
countries they are different countries
and we have to earn a separately a pro
approach towards each a country
first of all territorial integrity in
the region is very
very important it it must be precept and
and
protected uh secondly our junior
reconciliation in the region is very
very important just not to uh uh
it must be somehow established and
bosnia has a governor
we haven't spoke on this issue it's very
it's multi-ethnical
society and we take three years and
stable institutions for
functional bosnia herzegovina uh
deserves also our
uh attention when it comes to the
constitutional are
actually equality of the three
constitution people
uh based on their dating parish
agreement
and constitution as well yes there's
money final word final sentence
north massa there was a comparative
analysis by eu
and takes talking the situation with all
western balkan countries north macedonia
is first in the region in meeting
political criteria
in meeting economic criteria 40
40 of the eu are keys already transposed
in our domestic legislation
94 alignment with eu common foreign
security policy
the timing is now to start the accession
talk and 2021 should be the answer
to it we hope during the portuguese
presidency
just next week in tuesday if not
we support slovenian presidency well
that's a good note to end on gentlemen
thank you very much please give a round
of applause to a difficult conversation
done in 55 minutes
i