PARIS, October 9. /TASS/. The Western Balkan countries should integrate into the European Union, but there is no consensus in the community on accepting other candidates, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated at the European Parliament.
"We need to speed up the accession of [the countries of] the Western Balkans [to the EU], this is a key issue for Europe - to integrate them economically, geopolitically and in the field of security," he said.
According to the Hungarian politician, several other candidates for EU membership have fulfilled the community’s requirements for accession, but there is no consensus on their acceptance in the EU. The prime minister did not specify which countries he was referring to.
Also, Orban emphasized the importance of Serbia’s accession to the EU. "Without Serbia integrating into the EU, we will not be able to stabilize the situation in the Balkans. Until Serbia is not a member of the EU, the Balkans will remain an unstable region," he said.
Since October 1, the 10th conference on the Western Balkans at the level of foreign ministers has been held in Berlin as part of the so-called Berlin Process. The mechanism to support the European integration of the Western Balkan countries was initiated in 2014 by Angela Merkel, then Chancellor of Germany. The process is to support integration of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and unrecognized Kosovo into the EU. During the conference, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that integration of the Western Balkans and Ukraine into the EU is a geopolitical necessity.