We should bring the benefits of EU membership to the people of the Western Balkans, says President Röpke

EESC President Oliver Röpke participated today (24 May) in the conference on "Continuing the success story of EU enlargement - Bringing benefits to the Western Balkans in advance of accession" alongside Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Luka Mesec and Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council, Majlinda Bregu.

In his intervention, President Röpke underlined that it is imperative for the EU to keep enlargement as political priority. He also recalled that the countries of the Western Balkans have been in the waiting room for a long time and their people need tangible results. The EESC has taken several initiatives to continue its support for the gradual integration of the Western Balkan region into the European Union. Earlier this year, the EESC launched the 'Enlargement Candidate Members' initiative, whereby representatives from the candidate countries' civil society work alongside EESC Members. The EESC's Group for Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights now also visits candidate countries to perform "health tests" of the respect of the rule of law and the state of social and civil dialogue. The full press release from the conference is available online.

President Röpke also held a fruitful bilateral meeting with Minister Fajon, where he presented in more details the EESC initiatives supporting the gradual integration of the candidate countries. He also met with representatives of the regional civil society and non-governmental organisations, including European Policy Centre, Centre for Global Europe, Cooperation and Development Institute, Open Society Foundation (OSF) – Western Balkans, and ALDA Europe.  The visit to Ljubljana provided an opportunity to meet with the representatives of Kosovar civil society to discuss closer cooperation and the potential future participation of Kosovar representatives in the EESC activities.