Fajon for DW: I am afraid for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the EU is faltering

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - I was very stubborn, says Tanja Fajon about one of the biggest challenges she has faced in her life. The Member of the European Parliament speaks to DW about the EU, the situation in the countries of the region, as well as her personal journey.

"I went to Triglav when I couldn't walk," says Tanja Fajon in an interview for LIMITless DW. Namely, at a time when she was taking extremely strong medications and when walking was already a great effort for her due to unbearable joint pain, Fajon decided to set herself a goal: to climb Triglav. And - with great effort - she succeeded.

The example of Triglav actually says a lot about the character of this politician, which also comes to the fore when it comes to issues of importance to the wider community.

Tanja Fajon is a well-known face both in Slovenia and in other countries of the former Yugoslavia. A former journalist for RTV Slovenia, she is serving her third term as a Member of the European Parliament, and recently became the president of the strongest opposition party in Slovenia - the Social Democrats, and thus - quite logically - a contender for the position of Prime Minister of this country.

What is less known in the Western Balkan countries, but not in her homeland, is that Fajon faced a disease 25 years ago that was considered incurable at the time. Diagnosis: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Prognosis: A maximum of seven years to live. At that time, the only possibility of cure was a bone marrow transplant. While waiting for a donor, whom she could not find in her close circle, Fajon decided to fight the disease. "I did everything my doctors told me not to do, what my mother told me not to do. I went my own way and that somehow gave me energy," says Fajon, recalling that time. "I was very stubborn," she concludes today.

Among other things, she also spoke about Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"I am afraid for BiH because it is like a time bomb in the entire Balkan region if we do not make more effort."

Regarding the role of the EU, Fajon says: "My feeling is that after Catherine Ashton (former EU Commissioner for Foreign Policy - editor's note) left, who dealt with BiH, we somehow gave up, that the EU lost the effort to invest in the country, that there are no longer answers on how to solve problems in a country that more or less does not function."

Read the full interview with Fajon on DW