Solana in a regional trip

TIRANA, July 13 – EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana has started a tour in the western Balkans with the message that the region is of vital importance for the EU.
Serbia was the first stop to be followed by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Kosovo and Montenegro.
In a lecture to the Ditchley Foundation in Britain, Solana stressed that the Balkan region is of vital importance for the European Union.
“The European perspective of the region is clear and I have always supported the efforts for the countries of the region to join the EU. The European perspective of the region is the best for all countries in the region and also for the European Union,” Solana told Beta news agency.
Solana said that the EU is, “ƭaking a difference where it matters: in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa. The trend is up, even if we are not always moving as fast as I would like.”
He said that, “ƴhe handling of our periphery is essential for our credibility in international politics. The key question is: can we stabilize our own neighborhood? My answer is: we cannot afford not to.
It is where European Union foreign policy was born. And while we have been drawn into other
regions and issues, our job in the Balkans is not yet over,” he said.
“There is a striking difference in perceptions. We feel and treat them as if they are half-way in. The
mantra we keep repeating is the European perspective, of eventual accession to the EU. But
perceptions in the region are different. There is a sense of a lack of progress and a drifting away
from the enlargement goal.”
According to Solana, “It is true that nearly ten years after the end of Milosevic, Serbia still has no Stabilization and Association Agreement. Croatia is locked in a stalemate with its neighbor Slovenia. The same is true for Skopje and Athens. And Bosnia is held hostage by the narrow, nationalist calculations of some of its leaders. We have invested too much to allow the countries of the region to slip away from the EU’s power of attraction. And it will be harder and costlier in 5 years time.
Some said a couple of years ago that the dilemma the EU was facing on the Balkans was ‘go for
enlargement, or become a protectorate of sorts’. We chose enlargement as the guiding paradigm,
conditioned on reform. That is still the right strategy.”