Minister Lajčák at the annual V4 ministerial meeting with Western Balkans countries

The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajčák, under the auspices of whom VYF 2016 will be held,  attended the annual V4 ministerial meeting with Western Balkans countries under the baton of the V4 Polish Presidency in Warsaw today (29 November). The meeting was also attended by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, as well as foreign affairs ministers and deputy ministers of Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Romania, and Slovenia. The V4 ministers reiterated the support for the Western Balkans countries on their journey to the EU. “We have agreed that enlargement represents a strategic investment in terms of the EU’s security and prosperity, thus being the most effective and valuable instrument in this regard,” stated Minister Lajčák. At the following press conference he also stated that the V4 is the only EU grouping regularly meeting with the Western Balkans countries, as a strong promoter of further enlargement.

The V4 countries evaluated the enlargement package published by the European Commission on 9 November as a just and balanced image of individual countries in the region. As the next enlargement package won’t be published until spring 2018, the ministers adopted the Declaration calling upon the Commission to revise the opportunities for keeping up the pace in the existing integration process in 2017. The V4+ ministerial meetings have become an established format of the Visegrad cooperation of Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia with the partners from other regions. The event is traditionally held to coincide with the publishing of the enlargement package by the European Commission reporting on the progress made by individual candidate countries.

(Source: The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic)