Džaferović at the Brdo-Brijuni Process meeting: Integration of the Western Balkans into the EU is of irreplaceable importance

TIRANA, (Patria) - BiH Presidency member Šefik Džaferović addressed the meeting of the Brdo-Brijuni Process leaders.

We are transmitting his address in its entirety:

"Dear colleagues,
It is a great pleasure for me to participate for the first time in the meeting of the Brdo-Brijuni Process leaders. I thank President Meta, President Grabar-Kitarović, and President Pahor for the invitation. I would like to thank President Meta especially for the warm hospitality here in Tirana. I am very pleased that our friends, President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, are with us today. We highly appreciate their support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans and for strengthening ties between our region and the European Union.

Since its establishment in 2013, the Brdo-Brijuni Process has represented an important platform for strengthening regional dialogue and cooperation, resolving open issues, and promoting the European future of the Western Balkans. Slovenia and Croatia, as initiators of this process, have shown strong commitment to the European perspective of our region. Considering the internal debates within the European Union regarding enlargement, it is of utmost importance to have advocates for the idea of enlargement among the EU member states. Therefore, we must use today's meeting to jointly send messages of significance for the European future of our region, and thus help our friends in the European Union who advocate for enlargement.

The situation in our region today is significantly more complex than six years ago when the Brdo-Brijuni Process was launched. There are many more tensions, political instability, and security challenges. Significant changes on the international stage have strongly reflected on relations within our region. Much has changed since 2013, but some things have remained the same. The processes of integration into the European Union and NATO continue to be of key importance in shaping the future of our region and represent the best framework for realizing our common aspirations for lasting security, stability, and prosperity.

Regional cooperation, based on mutual respect, equality, trust, common values, and intersecting interests, remains key to resolving numerous challenges we face and achieving progress in the integration process into the European Union and NATO.

Although in the past 6 years, the countries of our region have not fully achieved the progress set out, the integration processes into the European Union and NATO have had a significant impact on the development of democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights. The integration processes have also made a crucial contribution to resolving open bilateral issues between the countries in our region.

Particularly significant moments for overall relations in the region include Montenegro's accession to the NATO alliance and the signing of the Prespa Agreement between Greece and North Macedonia, which has given new optimism to all of us in the region.

These steps have shown that, with dialogue and cooperation mechanisms and with a credible European and Euro-Atlantic perspective, our region can resist negative external influences and successfully resolve decades-old open issues and disputes. Bosnia and Herzegovina has also made significant strides in its integration processes. In December last year, the foreign ministers of NATO member states approved the submission of the first Annual National Programme to Bosnia and Herzegovina within the framework of the NATO MAP program. This is a framework for continuing and improving the existing cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the NATO alliance, which would represent a significant contribution not only to peace, security, and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also in the entire Western Balkan region.

All countries in our region have strong cooperation with the NATO alliance, and most of them have already achieved full membership in that organization. Bosnia and Herzegovina has also made progress in the process of integration into the European Union. We have submitted answers to the European Commission's Questionnaire and are now awaiting the European Commission's opinion on our membership application, and then the decision of the European Council on granting candidate status.

Bosnia and Herzegovina faces numerous reforms as part of the accession process to the European Union. We have already undertaken some of these reforms, particularly in the period since 2015. We are determined to continue implementing all other necessary reforms to meet the Copenhagen and Madrid criteria for accession, i.e., to align our system with the values, rules, and standards of the European Union. A positive opinion from the European Commission on Bosnia and Herzegovina's membership application and a decision from the European Council to grant candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina would give us a strong impetus to accelerate the implementation of all necessary reforms and achieve even greater and faster progress in the accession process.

With full awareness of the debates within the European Union on the issue of enlargement, I want to emphasize the essential importance of a credible European perspective for the Western Balkans.

The integration of the Western Balkans into the European Union is of irreplaceable importance for overall European security and stability, and it brings mutual benefit, both for the Western Balkans and for the European Union.

The migrant crisis has shown the interdependence of different regions, especially the link between the European Union and the Western Balkans as its immediate neighborhood. Within the European Union, there is a strong consensus regarding the protection of external borders and the fight against illegal migration. It is important to emphasize that there can be no successful protection of external borders and migration control without stability and security in the Western Balkans and without its credible European perspective. The European Council will soon adopt the European Union's Strategic Agenda for the period 2019-2024. This agenda will set out a set of priorities that will form the framework for European policy in the next five years. It is of utmost importance that this agenda includes clear and unambiguous guidelines for the credible perspective of the integration of Western Balkan countries into the European Union.

The process of integration into the European Union has proven to be the most effective mechanism for transforming our states, societies, and economies into modern democratic states, societies of European values, and competitive market economies, and thus for achieving lasting stability, security, and overall socio-economic development. Therefore, we must maintain the momentum in the integration process of our region into the European Union.

It is up to us to take responsibility, and through concrete reform measures in our countries, as well as through greater regional cooperation and networking, to send the best message to the European Union in favor of enlargement.