Slovenia and Germany have prepared a non-paper suggesting that the pre-accession process should not allow vetoes or blockades based on bilateral issues between neighboring countries, announced Slovenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs, Tanja Fajon.
“This initiative is aimed at accelerating the entire enlargement process, ensuring that there are fewer opportunities to block neighboring countries due to bilateral issues and to make use of the qualified majority voting system (QMV) more often, instead of relying solely on the process itself,” Fajon said in an interview with the MINA agency.
Fajon was also asked to comment on Croatia’s non-paper sent to Montenegro. She stressed that Slovenia’s experience shows that bilateral issues must always be resolved in the spirit of good neighborliness and should be settled before EU membership.
“I hope that Montenegro and Croatia will have such good relations that they will resolve their bilateral issues, and these issues will not complicate the entire enlargement process or Montenegro’s alignment with the EU,” Fajon stated.
She highlighted that Slovenia and Croatia had similar challenges in the past.
“Croatia was the last country to join the EU, and now it must be a sincere partner to all Western Balkan countries,” Fajon noted.
When asked about the potential influence of events in France and the rise of the far-right on the EU enlargement climate in Brussels, Fajon expressed that her recommendation is “to focus on ourselves.”
“If we are honest, reforms must be made to improve life. So, I think we are very aware that we need a united, strong, and enlarged Europe,” Fajon concluded.
