Serbian PM Brnabic expects Plenkovic to visit Western Balkan countries soon

NEWS 05.07.201913:37
Ilustracija

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Friday she expected her Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenkovic to visit all Western Balkan countries soon, adding that she hoped that during its presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2020 Croatia would put the EU's focus back on enlargement.

“According to my information, Plenkovic will visit the entire region and I believe we will have good talks,” Brnabic told the press in the Polish city of Poznan where she was attending a summit of the Berlin Process, a political and diplomatic initiative aimed at supporting the countries of Southeastern Europe on their path to EU membership.

“Right now our region is weak and vulnerable, it is not attractive to Europe to revive enlargement, it is not attractive to investors, which means that there are no jobs and higher wages, and all this leads to nothing,” Brnabic told reporters after a working breakfast which involved only the leaders of the Western Balkans without the EU members of the Berlin Process.

She said that Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj had denied the information that the authorities in Pristina had barred Serbian officials from entering Kosovo.

“I am glad to hear from Haradinaj that that was fake news, but I am surprised that fake news is spread by advisers to the so-called foreign minister of Kosovo,” Brnabic said, adding that Haradinaj’s denial had to some extent defused tensions in the region.

Serbian-language media in Pristina said on Thursday that Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry would not allow any Serbian official to enter Kosovo, to which Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that this was yet another slap in the face of the European Union and the international community.

The EU countries attending the summit in Poznan are represented by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Sarec, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Austrian Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

The countries of Southeastern Europe are represented by Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Chairman of the Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusko Markovic, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Also attending are EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.