The group “Friends of the Western Balkans”, a network of Social Democratic parliamentarians and Members of the European Parliament from all over the European Union aiming to revitalise the EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, joined the appeal for a joint statement addressed to the EU leaders.

“It is high time for the European leaders to remove the obstacles that keep stalling the accession process. It is time for negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania to start. It is time for the EU to concretely support Bosnia-Herzegovina’s effort to overcome its political stalemate and put in place democratic reforms, so that the country can be ensured candidate status as soon as possible. And it is time for Kosovo to be granted visa liberalisation, whose criteria were fulfilled in 2018,” the group said in its statement.

The Friends of the Western Balkans network has been established thanks to the joint work of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies – FEPS (European Union), the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Germany), Karl-Renner-Institut (Austria), Masarykova demokratická Akademie (Czechia), Kalevi Sorsa Foundation (Finland), Fondation Jean-Jaurès (France), Foundation Max van der Stoel (Netherlands), Društvo Progresiva (Slovenia), Olof Palme International Center (Sweden), in cooperation with CeSPI (Italy).

The International Union of the Socialist Youth also joined the Socialist Party’s appeal by sending an open letter to the European Council leaders.

“The Future of Europe must include Western Balkan countries and the voice of young people must be heard when creating the direction of Europe’s development, based on their expectations and their needs. We acknowledge the political gesture put in by the European institutions to mark this year as the European Year of Youth. We appreciate the fact that Tirana, the capital of Albania, has been declared as the 2022 European Youth Capital. We have shown that we share the fundamental European values and young people are committed to the European principles and values, therefore deserve a future within the EU. But we urge you, each and every single one of the elected European leaders of the present, to make change happen for a better future. It is high time for the Western Balkans accession to the European Union,” IUSY said in its open letter.

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