The Foreign Minister of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, was present at the Open Balkans Summit where he expressed his support for this initiative and the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU as soon as possible.

During his speech, the minister said that: “In these circumstances of war, we believe that we must avoid further problems, I think that the current situation should make it more obvious to everyone that the policy of expansion should be the most important policy of the EU. Europe definitely needs the Western Balkans and I believe that the integration of these countries around this table could undoubtedly contribute to the increase of European security in three aspects. Physical security first, we all know that war has a severe impact globally on the food chain.”

“To avoid scenarios like in 2015, we need cooperative actions with the countries of the Western Balkans, and that’s why I think the integration of this region avoids a new pressure of war. The Western Balkans offers us a safe and absolutely reliable transit for energy supply.
Thirdly, economic security, you have increased the trade volume between the countries of this round table, our companies are part of the market with these countries.
I want to emphasize that Hungary supports the Open Balkans initiative very much, the countries of this table took the necessary steps towards European integration, it is time for Brussels to act now. I want to make it very clear that if it were up to Hungary, the countries of the Western Balkans would have already been integrated into the EU,” said Peter Szijjarto.

/Klara Ruci/