Sofia and London pool efforts for integration of the Western Balkans
15 October 2017 News
Sofia and London reaffirmed the strategic nature of their bilateral relations, including in the field of defence and security, and will work together for a European perspective, stability and prosperity of the Western Balkans. The chief diplomats of Bulgaria and the United Kingdom, Ekaterina Zaharieva and Boris Johnson, agreed on this when they conferred today.
Zaharieva is paying a two-day working visit to the United Kingdom.
Bulgaria will organise a Western Balkans Summit in May 2018 during the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council, and a few months later London will host a meeting of the countries participating in the Berlin Process.
Boris Johnson quipped that the two capitals’ joint efforts relating to the Western Balkans could be called “the Sofia-to-London Process”.
“It is important for both Bulgaria and Europe to have stable partners and friends in the Western Balkans,” Zaharieva told Johnson. “I visited five of the six Western Balkan countries, and next week I will be in Kosovo, too. They are all motivated. My message to them was that they should seize the day, while five countries favouring EU enlargement hold the EU Council Presidency one after the other. At the same time, however, the Western Balkans need to do their homework.”
Zaharieva noted further that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU High Representative Federica Mogherini have already given unequivocal support to enlargement.
“I am sure that your Presidency will be a great success. What you are doing in the Western Balkans is very important to us and we support you. Those countries should have a Euro-Atlantic perspective. Let’s coordinate our actions,” Boris Johnson urged for his part.
“An accession plan should be there for each one of these countries. Our experience shows that people in the Balkans do not want to be divided any more. The longer the integration process takes, the greater the risk of growing demotivation,” Zaharieva emphasised.
The sides concurred that the Western Balkan countries should accede on the strength of their own merits. Meanwhile, they need to be supported for an improvement of connectivity in all aspects, the two chief diplomats agreed.