site.btaForeign Minister Zaharieva: "2025 Is Realistic Date for EU Enlargement to Western Balkans"

Athens, May 11 (BTA) - Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva took part in the Second Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) and the four Balkan EU Member States (Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Romania) in Sounion near Athens on Thursday and Friday, Zaharieva's Ministry said in a press release. The six Western Balkan countries which are not EU members (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), Slovenia and Cyprus were invited to attend in an observer status.

The meeting took place on the eve of the EU-Western Balkans Summit, due in Sofia, on May 17.

"2025 is a realistic date for an enlargement of the European Union to the Western Balkans," Zaharieva told her colleagues in Athens. "Those countries' citizens must be assured that when they fulfil the criteria, the door will be open to them," the chief Bulgarian diplomat added.

All foreign ministers attending the meeting thanked the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council for placing the European perspective of the Western Balkans high on the EU agenda. The ministers welcomed the Sofia Summit and gave unqualified support to the practical measures for the region's integration which will come alongside the political backing.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said that the support that the countries in the region have amassed during the Bulgarian Presidency will be decisive for the future of the Balkans and this year will decide their fate for at least a decade ahead.

The foreign ministers concurred against two-speed Europe. "Bulgaria opposes double standards like the one applied in foods: our citizens are not second-class citizens. Another example of a double standard is Schengen: Bulgaria has been fulfilling the technical criteria since 2011 but has not been admitted for political reasons," Zaharieva said. She called for involving the candidate countries in the dialogue on the future of the European Union.