Balkan countries will be strong only if united, PM Denkov says at Bled Strategic Forum

"The countries of the Balkan Peninsula must understand that we will only be strong if we are together. That is all we need to move forward," Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov told his counterparts from Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Croatia and Albania at the leadership panel of the 18th annual Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia, the Council of Ministers' press service reported Monday. The event was also attended by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.

"I will be more than happy the next time we meet in this composition, all countries outside the European Union (EU) here to have already started accession negotiations. The Balkans are a common economic and geographical region, and I hope it will become so politically. But our countries have a lot of homework to do. After all, the EU is not just a geographical grouping. It is based on values that unite us," the Bulgarian Prime Minister said. 

"Everybody is looking at our people and asking why we are stopping the Macedonians on their way to the EU because of the change in the Constitution. But the question can be asked in another way: why is it a problem for the Bulgarians to be part of the list of nations included in the Constitution of North Macedonia?" Denkov asked. This is a political problem that is now part of the negotiations between North Macedonia and the European Union. I hope that it will be solved as it is written in the European proposal from 2022," the Prime Minister stressed.

Bulgaria also has its "homework" to do in order to convince the Netherlands and Austria, which are blocking its accession to the Schengen area, Denkov pointed out, adding that his Government has a list of tasks and a timetable by which they must be completed. "We want to do our homework 100% to make sure that when we negotiate, there will be nothing in our country that they will say is wrong," the Bulgarian Prime Minister said. 

Denkov is on a one-day visit to Slovenia to participate in the leadership panel of the Strategic Forum. It provides an opportunity for representatives from various fields - diplomacy, politics, economics, private and public sectors and academia - to discuss key challenges in the 21st century and find innovative solutions to regional and global challenges. This is the 18th edition of the international conference and this year its theme is Solidarity for Global Security.