Jioros Gerapetritis is in Slovakia for the Ministerial Meeting of the “Friends of the Western Balkans”.
“The issue of the accession process for the Western Balkans has been of particular concern recently to both the Europe, as well as Greece,” said the Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis in a statement on the sidelines of his participation in the Ministerial Meeting of the “Friends of the Western Balkans Group”, which is taking place today in Bratislava.
As he said, “the accession perspective of the Western Balkans is of vital importance both for the peoples of the Western Balkans and for the European Union, a larger, stronger and more resilient European Union, which will include all peoples, especially the Western Balkans, which have a history of hardship,a history of nationalism, wars, conflicts.”
“It is extremely important to be able to encourage this process, within the framework, of course, of the criteria set by the law of the European Union itself:respect for the European acquis, absolute respect for international law and good neighbourly relations. Greece has taken an extensive initiative. It is the country which is pushing ahead with the accession of the Western Balkans. The Delphi Declaration has already been signed,” he said.
Greece, he added, is the country which is encouraging the integration of the Western Balkans.
“It is the immediate neighbour, the country which is the oldest country in the region in the European Union. We believe that it is extremely critical and important for Greece to be present in this discussion,” he stressed.
“It is important that the European Union becomes, under conditions of many and difficult challenges, a real union of all the peoples of Europe.”
In the context of Greece’s leading role in the pre-accession process of the Western Balkan countries, he noted how Greece will undertake a series of initiatives, which include the visit of the Foreign Minister to the Western Balkan countries, as well as the hosting by Greece of the next meeting of the “Friends of the Western Balkans“.
“It is the next period, the next few months, extremely crucial, in view of the assumption by Greece of the presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the second half of 2027, a period during which we are convinced that the discussion on the accession of the Western Balkans can be substantially advanced and we can move forward after 13 years to the accession of the first member state from the Western Balkans,” he concluded.
