TIRANA, August 14/ATA/ The Spokeswoman of the European Commission for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Ana Pisonero in an interview for Report TV said today that the European Union is in favour of the “Open Balkans” initiative, while calling the regional market important.
“We welcome the initiative of the leaders to strengthen regional cooperation, in some of the most important elements in the European perspective of the Western Balkans and an integral part of the Stabilization and Association Process,” Pisonero said.
Regarding the biggest gains of the Balkan countries from this initiative, Pisonero responded that, “We welcome the initiative for more regional cooperation, but in order to achieve maximum benefits it must be comprehensive, as the leaders agreed in the Sofia summit for the creation of a common regional market,” she said.
Rama, Vucic and Zaev have called on other Balkan countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro to join the initiative, but so far these three countries have refused. What does the European Union think about this attitude?
“The involvement of all Balkan countries continues to be essential. We welcome the fact that all the 6 countries of the Western Balkans have agreed on an ambitious action plan to create a common regional market, based on the four freedoms of the European common market i.e. the free movement of goods, services, capital and people, always based on the rules and standards of the European Union. We encourage all 6 countries to continue on this path,” said Pisonero.
Speaking about the largest investments planned by the EU in the region for the coming years, Pisonero said that, “We want to support the region in the process of European integration”.
“We have an economic investment plan that can activate up to 30 billion Euros for the region, in the form of grants and lending at appropriate costs, and this would help in the long-term development of the region, to create, say, suitable conditions for EU integration “, said Pisonero.
How much Open Balkans will help countries on the path to integration?
“A successful regional economic cooperation initiative will help on the path of European economic integration of the region towards the common economic market. The final goal, which is the opening of negotiations, has certainly not changed and the agreement reached between the 6 countries of the Western Balkans to create a common regional market should bring the region in line with the European common market, because of course it will be based on EU rules. This would help them before they became part of the European Union, and of course it would also speed up the negotiation process. As I mentioned, our investment plan is an integral part of our support for the region, on their path to integration, and I want to emphasize again that this would bring benefits to both parties,” she said.
Regarding the possibility of a date for the First Intergovernmental Conference for Albania by the end of the year, Pisonero said that, “This is a decision to be taken by the Council. The Council has not yet set a date, because from our side, the European Commission, we are very clear, for us Albania and North Macedonia deserve it and that we must move forward in European integration. We wish to hold the first intergovernmental conference as soon as possible.” /j.p/p.s./
