Martin Klus at Europa-Forum Wachau 2022: We welcome the EU breakthrough decision regarding the candidate status for Ukraine, but we also want the same European future for the[...]

"Since the beginning, Slovakia has been one of the main promoters of granting candidate status to Ukraine, but that doesn't mean that the Western Balkans should be sidelined. Quite the reverse, Slovakia has been a long supporter of this region in our neighborhood on its way to future EU membership."

This was stated by the State Secretary of the Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Ministry (MFEA SR) Martin Klus at the Europa-Forum Wachau 2022 international conference in Göttweig, Austira, on Friday, 24 June 2022.

State Secretary Klus gave an address in the panel together with Federal Minister for the EU of the Republic of Austria Karoline Edtstadler, EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan Regional Issues Miroslav Lajčák and Special EU Envoy of the United Kingdom to the Western Balkans Sir Stuart Peach. The panel discussion focused on the EU enlargement policy in light of the recent decision by Union leaders to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.

"This step is of a great importance - it means clear confirmation for the entire world that the Union is counting on Ukraine to be a future member. And it will also be an important motivation for Kyiv to work on the fulfillment of necessary reforms," emphasized the State Secretary. He also highlighted the granting of candidate status to Moldova and providing a European perspective for Georgia and Bosnia Hercegovina. He also conveyed hope that the same perspective would also be shared by other Western Balkan countries soon.

"We can see a suitable opportunity to move ahead with the integration of our partners in the Western Balkans and we should not miss it. Frustration from stagnation of the integration process is deepening in our partners. This geopolitical area will not remain empty for long and we can already see a strong interest from third stakeholders, especially Russia and China, in this region," stated State Secretary Klus.

On the sidelines of the conference MFEA SR State Secretary Klus also held bilateral negotiations with Federal Minister Karolina Edtstadler. The partners discussed developments in the Western Balkans and opportunities for helping countries to meet their integration ambitions so that they can become part of the European family as soon as possible. They also touched on the results of the Conference on the Future of Europe, while evaluating the necessity to first deal with those citizens´ recommendations that we can implement within the existing treaties.