Speeding up W Balkans Euro-Atlantic integration in Europe’s interest, says Hungarian FM

Accelerating the EU and Euro-Atlantic integration of the western Balkan region would be in the interest of the whole of Europe, both from a security and from an economic point of view, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after a meeting Budapest hosted under its current V4 presidency on Wednesday. 

The meeting brought together top diplomats of the Visegrad Four group (Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia), and central and eastern European countries plus western Balkan countries.

Speeding up the EU and NATO integration process of the western Balkans will be a guarantee of the region’s security,

Szijjártó told a press conference after the meeting.

The most ardent supporters of the western Balkan region’s integration with the EU and NATO are the countries of central and eastern Europe and those in the south-eastern part of the continent “for the reason that we live here, in their neighbourhood,” he added.

Only a stable and strong western Balkans can stop a new wave of migrants arriving from the south, Szijjártó said.

Central Europe has a vested interest in the EU adopting a western Balkans strategy that accelerates integration and helps eliminate bilateral conflicts. As central Europe’s security is at stake, the participants demand that the EU should open six chapters of accession talks with Serbia and three with Montenegro this year. Further, it should set a date for starting accession talks with Macedonia and Albania in the first quarter of 2018 at the latest, and set integration goals and a timetable for Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, Szijjártó said.