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Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu and his counterparts from eight other EU member states - Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Slovakia and Slovenia - wrote a letter to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, calling for a strategic discussion on the Western Balkans to be included with the agenda of the April Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
"The letter to the High Representative of the nine European Foreign Ministers comes in the context of the many changes that have taken place in the Western Balkans region recently. Thus, the Foreign Ministers emphasize the importance of a strategic discussion on this issue, given a number of domestic developments in these states, overlapping with the new challenges triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated the already existing tendencies, some of them with geopolitical implications. The letter mentions the fact that the EU should approach the region not just from the perspective of the enlargement but also from a more ample perspective of foreign affairs, in order to better answer to the domestic developments and for a more active commitment in the relation with third states. Moreover, the European Ministers pleaded for a good coordination with the United States, a key partner in the region, and emphasized the growing importance of a common and effective European standpoint. European officials underscored in the letter that the EU continued to consistently support the region during this period, but that more effective communication was needed," reads a statement issued by the MAE to AGERPRES on Thursday.
According to the same source, "Romania will continue to play an active role in promoting lines of action likely to outline a visible and effective engagement of the European Union in the Western Balkans region, both in terms of EU enlargement policy and as an instrument meant to ensure peace, stability and welfare in the region, as well as in terms of the EU support in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic management efforts."
