The regional forum “The Balkans and Geopolitical Challenges of Today and the Future” was held today in Tirana.

The conference was attended by the President of the Party of Freedom, Ilir Meta, former President of Kosovo Fatmir Sejdiu, former President of Croatia Stipe Mesić, former President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Davutoğlu – former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkey, as well as notable politicians and academics from the country and the region.

Meta declared that today, more than ever, there is an urgent need to return to the tracks of classical foreign policy, and not experimental or “business for peace” formats.

“There is a need to recognize realities, return to the pillars of principles, and strengthen conditionality. In our countries, more work was done and more progress was made when the EU and the USA spoke more strongly, more openly, and with one voice. Meaningful and true reforms within each country produced visa-free travel to Europe and within the region, expanded NATO’s border perimeter within us, strengthened economies, institutions, reduced tensions between peoples, and increased natural exchanges in all fields. There was more accountability, more enthusiasm, more trust from citizens, as well as stronger levers from the EU and the USA,” he said.

According to him, the authority of the EU and the USA has also been undermined by corrupt relations that autocratic leaders have built with certain high-ranking officials.

“The case of McGonigal has become a global example of how autocrats corrupt even the highest officials of the FBI to eliminate political opposition and pluralism,” he said.

Meta pointed out that the involvement and imposition of diplomacy agendas by non-state actors, whose representatives and interests are unknown while they sit at high-level political decision-making tables, is also a concern.

Additionally, Meta noted that the Balkans cannot be a place where narrow and short-term interests are traded, for example, a dumping ground for illegal immigrants, because the Balkans cannot be the EU’s Rwanda.

/k.s/