European chief diplomats meeting with Balkan counterparts, here is what is expected to be discussed

The Foreign Ministers of the European Union states will meet today in Brussels with their counterparts from the Western Balkans, to discuss a number of topics of common interest. This is a traditional meeting and it will be chaired by the EU's high representative for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell. According to warnings from the EU, the main topics will be the security situation in the region and beyond and the cooperation between the bloc and the countries of the region in the field of foreign policy and security.

The meeting comes days after the European Commission approved and published the enlargement package and annual progress reports. They evaluate the cooperation and coordination of the actions of the states of the region with the EU in the field of foreign policy, with the exception of Serbia and to a certain extent Bosnia and Herzegovina, as these two countries have a lower level of adaptation to the positions of the EU in the field of foreign policy. Other states, such as Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia, have an almost complete adaptation to EU positions, including sanctions against Russia due to the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Although Kosovo has no formal obligation, it has also supported the positions of the EU in foreign policy, including the sanctions against Russia. This has been evaluated by the EU.

On the eve of today's meeting of the EU's foreign ministers with their colleagues from the Western Balkans, several EU countries have jointly sent a "non-paper", through which they request the deepening of cooperation in the field of security and foreign policy before these countries become members of the European bloc.

This letter was signed by Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Greece, Slovenia and Slovakia. These states have proposed that the ministers of the Western Balkan states be invited more often to meetings with their colleagues from the EU, including informal meetings twice a year. Also, they have also proposed the temporary participation of the representatives of the states of the region in the meetings of the Committee for security and politics of the EU.

At the time when they increase the cooperation with the countries of the Western Balkans region, they ask the EU to have a great cooperation and solution within the region through dialogue and cooperation of the problems that these countries have between them. This especially applies to the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, since according to EU diplomats, the bad relations between these two countries also aggravate the situation in the entire Western Balkans region. Before meeting their colleagues from the Western Balkans, EU foreign ministers will hold a meeting at the Foreign Affairs Council, where the main topic will be the Israel-Hamas conflict and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. The war there began on October 7, after Hamas - which has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU - launched attacks in southern Israel.