Abazović takes part in Paris Peace Forum

Greater mobility of people leads to reconciliation, and reconciliation leads to economic progress. The Western Balkans can offer a lot to the European Union and that's why we must not be left out of the process, said Prime Minister Dritan Abazović during a panel discussion at the Paris Peace Forum.

Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, Deputy Chair of the Open Society Foundations Alexander Soros, and Director of the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) Marie Dumoulin also participated in the panel "Managing the fall out of the crisis on population: strengthening Southeast Europe's resilience".

Prime Minister Abazović pointed out that the Western Balkans is a part of the world and Europe that has huge opportunity to further develop if it makes smart and good decisions and has good decision-makers.

Speaking about the consequences of Russia's aggression against Ukraine for Montenegro, Prime Minister Abazović pointed out that the global crisis had a negative impact, especially on tourism and energy.

PM Abazović stressed that it is important that the EU understands that we need to revive the enlargement process and that if we remain to be a "black hole" of Europe, it will open up the possibility of creating a negative impact.

The Prime Minister stated that the common future of the region is in the EU and that it is up to the countries of the Western Balkans to complete their part of the work, stressing that the EU needs to revive the enlargement process.

We supported the sanctions against the Russian Federation, not because we have something against them, but because we protect principles, international law, the sovereignty of Ukraine, we protect the right of people to choose how they want to live and to which organisation they want to join, Abazović said, pointing out that the relationship between Montenegro and the Russian Federation used to be quite good, but now it doesn't exist.

We want to be trusted partners, even though we are small in size and population. The EU is not complete without the Western Balkans, the Prime Minister concluded.

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