Zagreb summit to confirm European perspective of Western Balkans. [ Ссылка ] The European perspective, the commitment of the Western Balkan countries to the European Union and cooperation in the coronavirus crisis are the key elements of a declaration that will be adopted at the central event of the Croatian EU presidency in Zagreb on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman said on Tuesday. #eudebates #Covid_19 #coronavirus #CoronavirusOutbreak #Corona #COVD19 #Health #EUCO #COVID
On the initiative of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the summit of the 27 EU member states and the six Western Balkan countries, scheduled for May 6, will be held online in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
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"Cooperation in dealing with the pandemic, giving the Western Balkan countries the European perspective and these countries' commitment to European values" are the key elements of the Zagreb Declaration, Grlic Radman told the press outside the government offices.
He recalled that North Macedonia and Albania had been given the green light on their path to EU membership which he said was "a great Croatian success".
Zagreb will again host a summit on the European perspective of Southeast Europe, just as it did 20 years ago when Croatia was not yet a member of the EU. The next summit was held in Thessaloniki in 2003 and the last one took place two years ago in Sofia.
The Croatian EU Presidency has proposed that summits on European integration be held every two years, Grlic Radman said.
"Not all EU members are equally interested in enlargement. There is still talk of what the future will bring with new members, but Croatia has shown the initiative in this regard," he said.
The Summit hopefully will strengthen political dialogue and socio-economic cooperation between the EU and the region and show solidarity and joint effort in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The EU leaders, while acknowledging the progress the region has achieved in the past and exchanging views on cooperation to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, should emphasise the need for political and economic reforms, contributing to prosperity and security in in the region and in the whole Europe. ETUC calls on Western Balkan leaders to recognise that Social Dialogue with trade unions and employers, collective bargaining, workers’ participation and occupational safety and health standards play an essential role in the response to the crisis and in economic growth.
In May, the Croatian capital Zagreb was due to host the European Union – Western Balkans summit where the leaders were among others meant to endorse an economic and investment plan for the region. This plan is one of the three strands of the new approach the European Commission developed for the region, to complement the first two: the revised methodology for EU enlargement, which the Commission put forward in February to bring credibility back to one of the most important EU policies, and the decision to open the accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia, endorsed by the EU leaders in March, together with the revised methodology.
COVID-19 pandemic did not throw this carefully laid out plan around: it did not change our aim, ambition nor determination. This could have easily happened: the pandemic hit the European Union and whole continent hard and caused an unthinkable loss of life. The Commission took extraordinary measures to support and assist the Member States in addressing the crisis, to save lives, protect health systems and mitigate the socio-economic impact. But at the same time the Commission was clear that the pandemic can only be defeated with global action and by working with partners.
Nowhere was this more obvious than in the Western Balkans, a region at the heart of Europe and entirely surrounded by the EU Member States. The Western Balkans was the first region where this thinking also became action. After initial difficult first days, the Commission took concrete measures already in the second part of March to provide support to all the partners in the region – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. The measures covered support for immediate needs as well as economic recovery, and financially they are now unparalleled with €3.3 billion of grants and loans.
Together we will overcome this crisis and come out of it stronger: the COVID-19 pandemic confirmed clearly that the future of the Western Balkans is in the European Union. We have made important steps this year despite the pandemic and we need to continue to build on them for a truly united European continent.
