Mogherini: Western Balkans Showing Progress Previously Unimaginable

Bratislava, September 3 (TASR) – My goal is that every country of the Western Balkans has progressed in a way that the integration process in these countries was irreversible, announced High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini in Bratislava on Saturday.

Mogherini was speaking at a two-day Interparliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defence Policy organised within Slovakia’s Presidency of the EU Council. Cooperation and integration of the Western Balkans were high on the agenda of the conference.

According to Mogherini, a significant progress can be observed in these countries. “We must put pressure in this direction so that the EU can, for example, improve the living standards in these countries,” she said, praising also a lot of good work in fighting radicalism, terrorism and managing migration flows.

Full support for the Western Balkan countries in their EU integration process was expressed earlier in the day also by EU representatives participating in the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers (GYMNICH) in Bratislava. EU candidate countries from the Western Balkan, such as Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania also took part in the meeting.