As our path to the EU derails, we remain committed to meeting EU standards. We cannot allow this negative spiral to jeopardize the very foundations of the future and prosperity of the region. The European Union is moving forward, while the region is stuck in the dilemmas of the EU itself, are some of the messages Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Nikola Dimitrov send in a joint statement issued after the meeting within the “Open Balkans” initiative.

Macedonia is a great example of EU’s unfulfilled promises. Its government has sought to meet Brussels’ demands, only to find itself isolated and left to bear the consequences of EU decisions. This weakened perspective of European integration threatens to leave us disintegrated more than ever. The feeling is common throughout the region, they said.

In the statement, they said the delay in the EU perspective had cost the region too much political thought, adding that while the Union was developing new far-reaching strategies, the region was desperately trying to implement the existing one.

As Vucic, Rama and Dimitrov say, as our path to the EU derails, we remain committed to meeting EU standards.

We cannot allow this negative spiral to jeopardize the very foundations of the future and prosperity of the region. The European Union is moving forward, while the region is mired in the dilemmas of the EU itself. The European Union should and must explore all paths for faster integration of the Western Balkans ahead of accession, along with its commitment to gradual inclusion, as defined in the new methodology, reads the statement.