06/22/2023 21:30 (act. 06/22/2023 21:30)
“Friends of the Western Balkans”: Schallenberg and Lipavsky ©APA/AFP
Several foreign ministers want to push ahead with EU expansion to include the Western Balkans in the Europa Forum Wachau. On the initiative of Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP), Foreign Ministers Miroslav Wlachovský (Slovakia), Jan Lipavsky (Czech Republic) and Gordan Grlíc Radman (Croatia) will come to Göttweig Abbey on Friday. The “Friends of the Western Balkans”, which also includes Greece, Italy and Slovenia, call for “gradual and accelerated integration” of the region.
Before that, there will be opening speeches by the Governor of Lower Austria, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, and the First Vice-President of the European Parliament, Othmar Karas (both ÖVP). EU Minister Karoline Edtstadler and Education Minister Martin Polaschek (both ÖVP) also participate in round tables. On Saturday, among others, EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn (ÖVP) will deliver a speech. Speeches by Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Bulgarian President Rumen Radew will close the event. Radew, who is in Vienna at Nehammer’s invitation, will also participate in a roundtable at the Chamber of Commerce on Friday on the topic of expanding dual training and improving the investment climate.
For his part, Edtstadler also spoke Thursday in Stockholm at a meeting with his EU colleagues on EU enlargement. “We have to prepare for enlargement from a financial, organizational and economic point of view and, above all, we have to see it as a process of gradual integration”, stressed Edtstadler. Above all, Austria supports the EU integration of the Western Balkan countries. Ukraine and Moldova are also official candidates for EU membership since 2022.