Slovakia wants to help Western Balkan countries in the process of integration into the EU and absolutely rejects slowing it down for political or technical reasons, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Juraj Blanár declared at the start of his visit to Montenegro on Tuesday.
Blanár is convinced that Montenegro will be ready to join the EU in 2028 if it carries out all the necessary reforms and completes the accession process.
The Foreign Minister noted that some Western Balkan states were promised the prospect of EU membership as long as 20 years ago. Croatia was the last country to join the Union in 2013, and no other country has been admitted since then.
Blanár said Slovakia is a strong supporter of the integration of Western Balkan countries into the EU and is present in the region. In this context, he pointed out that Slovakia participates in the EUFOR mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the KFOR mission in Kosovo.
On Tuesday, Blanár also said that even though Slovakia is not a member of the so-called coalition of the willing formed with respect to Ukraine, it is monitoring its activities and, at the same time, it is ready to take part at a technical level as an observer and offer logistical support for troops that could be deployed to monitor a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.
Blanár reiterated the government's position that Slovakia will not send any of its soldiers to Ukraine, as such a move would only escalate the situation. He added that Russia itself considers the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine unacceptable.
"Since both sides must reach an agreement, we do not see the point in this, but in any case we are monitoring what's happening within the coalition of the willing, because our NATO membership is absolutely key for us. That is our security guarantee," he said.
"If peace is to be achieved in Ukraine, there must be a compromise acceptable to both the Russian Federation and Ukraine. And the Russian Federation has clearly defined that troops of European Union countries that are also members of the North Atlantic Alliance are unacceptable to them," Blanár added, calling for the search for a different solution.
Source: TASR
