prijava
THESSALONIKI, March 20 (FENA) - The most important thing of all is the irreversible path of all the countries of the region towards membership in the European Union. It is something that is probably not happening at the speed that many would expect, but my personal belief is that it is an irreversible process, said Margaritis Schinas, Vice President of the European Commission.
Today, he was the keynote speaker at the panel on the topic "The path of the countries of the Western Balkans to Europe", which was held as part of the annual conference of the Association of Balkan News Agencies - Southeastern Europe (ABNA-SE) in Thessaloniki.
He noted that it will take time for that process, but it will happen, adding that to a certain extent, it also produces positive results, such as the offered agreement between Pristina and Belgrade.
"Part of this process is, of course, that we granted candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina for EU membership. This is not just an abstract goal, this is the first tangible legal step in the enlargement process and now we have to move to phase two, which is to address the 14 key priorities that we have already identified as the most relevant," Schinas added.
He announced that after the completion of the second phase, the EU will start negotiations on certain policies, but the process will continue, judging that it is a success for BiH as well.
Professor of Balkan, Slavic and Eastern Studies of the University of Macedonia Giorgos Christidis, Greek Honorary Ambassador Alexandros Mallias and Managing Director of the Federal News Agency FENA Elmir Huremović spoke today in Thessaloniki on the topic "The Path of the Western Balkan Countries to Europe".
"This was a great opportunity to talk with representatives of the leading state news agencies from the region of Southeast Europe about the current political moment, the impact of the war in Ukraine and the challenges in the field of disinformation," said Schinas.
This year's conference on the topic "The role of news information in the new Balkan reality" was organized by the Athens-Macedonian News Agency. The news agencies of the Balkans and Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE Europe) today signed a declaration committing themselves to the fight against fake news.
(FENA) S. R.
