Visegrad Four backs EU enlargement, say top diplomats in Budapest

The Visegrad Group (V4) strongly advocates the further enlargement of the European Union to include the countries of the western Balkans, the V4’s top diplomats said on Wednesday. 

At a news conference following a meeting of V4 top diplomats, together with their counterparts from the western Balkans, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania, Poland’s head of diplomacy Witold Waszczykowski said the V4 backed all EU integration endeavours and an open-door policy.

Ivan Korcok, Slovakia’s foreign ministry state secretary, said the V4 was leading the issue of enlargement, and the issue should not fall to the periphery of European Union interest.

V4 member states will guarantee that the countries of the western Balkan remain a part of Europe, he added.

Czech deputy foreign minister Jakub Durr said the V4 was clearly open to the issue of EU enlargement. Without the western Balkans, neither the EU nor NATO would be complete, he added.

Serbian foreign minister Ivica Dacic stressed that the western Balkan states are determined to become EU members, despite the “integration fatigue discernible in the bloc”. The long waiting time has kindled doubt in Serbs too, Dacic said.

Montenegrin foreign minister Srdjan Darmanovic said that the V4 group “has always been an example of successful cooperation”, and thanked the group for its support for the country’s NATO membership.