Slovenia will continue its intense diplomatic efforts to ensure that EU leaders grant candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina at December’s meeting of the European Council. “There was a great deal of talk today about enlargement and speeding up processes in the Western Balkans, and the great news is that there were no objections today to granting Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate status as soon as possible,” the Slovenian Prime Minister said. He also emphasised the importance of approving visa liberalisation with Kosovo as soon as possible: “Serbia released good news today regarding visa harmonisation. I believe we are on a good path.”

Following today’s summit, Prime Minister Golob said that the issue of migration cannot be solved at the level of an individual country, but with the cooperation of Europe as a whole. “Slovenia is not the most burdened country on the migrant route; those would be countries in the so-called Northern Balkan corridor, i.e. Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. Croatia’s inclusion in the Schengen Area will improve the situation for Slovenia in terms of the growing number of migrants, as together with Croatia we will ensure the integrity of the external border,” he said.

“All summit participants believe that a massive step forward has been made today in all respects. We began and ended in the spirit of friendship,” said the Slovenian Prime Minister at the conclusion of the EU-Western Balkans summit.