Marking 20 years since the largest EU enlargement and Slovenia’s EU membership, the Civil Society High Level Conference on the Western Balkans gathered over 100 political and civil society leaders underlining the fundamental benefits of EU membership and reaffirming that the future of the Western Balkan region lies in the European Union.  

On Friday, May 24, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in cooperation with the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) and Open Society Foundation-Western Balkans (OSF-WB) kicked-off the Civil Society High Level Conference on the Western Balkans: “Continuing the success story of EU enlargement – Bringing benefits to the Western Balkans in advance of accession.”  

The conference put the spotlight on the necessary reforms to progress on the accession path, including the importance of upholding the EU’s fundamental values. At the same time, civil society set clear expectations that the benefits of EU membership must be felt by people in the region before the actual accession to the EU.  

Opening the conference, EESC President Oliver Röpke underlined “I believe in gradual integration and in bringing the benefits of EU membership now. We need tangible results, not empty words. The place of the Western Balkans is in the EU; until then, our EU family is not complete.”  

The EESC will host a ‘Civil Society Enlargement Summit’ later in September to support this cause.  

Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon remarked, “EU membership offers a better life, rule of law, and solidarity. For this process, we need civil society to put pressure on politics and the government to move in the direction of getting closer to the EU.”  

Majlinda Bregu, Secretary General of the RCC, commented, “Facing reform challenges, the Common Regional Market is crucial for bringing the Western Balkans closer to the EU.” 

Deputy Director for OSF-WB, Miodrag Milosavljević, stated that “The EU is about values, and we must stop looking at the EU integration only through the benefits we will get. The blockage in the integration process needs to be removed, especially with regards to bilateral issues. As such, it would be beneficial to separate these bilateral issues from the integration process and have them addressed in a separate process between the countries.” 

EESC is the first EU institution to invite social partners from EU candidate countries in its work. 146 Western Balkan social partners are now members of the EESC through its “Enlargement Candidates Members” initiative. As a next step the EESC will organise a ‘Civil Society Enlargement Summit’ on 19 September for the first time ever. 

Visit the link to read the conference’s conclusions together with the full press release online and other EESC opinions. 

Copyright @EU-EESC