Chairman Tegeltija at Work Lunch of Western Balkan Leaders with Chancellor Merkel

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH Zoran Tegeltija said, at a working lunch of leaders of Western Balkans counties with Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel in Tirana, that the crisis, caused by an outbreak of Covid-19 pandemics, reminded us of the importance of cooperation, solidarity and effective coordination. 

He assessed the Berlin process has lifted the regional cooperation at a higher level and gave considerable contribution to speedy solution finding to some issues, and it promoted the connectedness of het Western Balkans. According to him, the Berlin process incites investments to infrastructure sand connection projects, which is a basic driver of the region’s economic advancement.

Chairman Tegeltija stressed that the shared aim is to shorten a marathon time framework for progress achieving in the enlargement and accession to the European Union processes.

“The EU enlargement to the Western Balkans is a two way process, requiring a new momentum for both enlargement as well as accession processes. A general impression is that the EU creates an illusion of an open enlargement policy, simultaneously keeping the accession prospects as far away as possible. Changing such policy would give an incitement for reforms’ improved dynamics”, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers assessed.

Chairman Tegeltija believes that the Western Balkans countries should be enabled a considerable role and participation in the EU processes, with closer ties with the EU even before a formal meeting of criteria and fulfilment of membership conditions.

He pointed out that reforms have not been taken solely for the sake of the membership, but rather for improvement of life quality of citizens, adding that an evident fatigue from the enlargement process brings no benefit, it only slows down all the processes. (end)