Bratislava, 12 May 2026
The Ministers of the Foreign Affairs of the Friends of the Western Balkans – Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Slovakia – met in Bratislava on May 12, 2026 with the partners from the Western Balkans region. The meeting was attended by the European Union Commissioner for Enlargement.
Building on the legacy of the Thessaloniki EU-Western Balkans Summit of June 2003,
Recalling the 2018 Enlargement Strategy, Council Conclusions on Enlargement, the EUWestern Balkans Brussels Declaration of December 2025,
Reaffirming the European Union´s continued engagement in the Western Balkans and its full and unequivocal commitment to the EU membership prospect of the Western Balkans,
In light of evolving geopolitical challenges, we, the Foreign Ministers of the Friends of the Western Balkans group, together with our partners from the region, underline that the process of integration of the candidates into the EU must be:
- a long-term geostrategic investment for a stable, secure and prosperous Europe as well as a key driver for fundamental reforms and sustainable economic growth in the region
- predictable, credible and merit-based, ensuring that the fulfilment of agreed criteria leads to timely, concrete and measurable steps towards accession
- a key political stimulus for the Western Balkan partners to fully seize the existing momentum to accelerate EU-oriented reforms leading to EU membership, with the emphasis on the implementation of the Reform Agendas through the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans
- a motive for both, the Western Balkan partners to be adequately prepared for the EU membership and for the EU to be ready at the time of new members accession
- an incentive for the Western Balkan partners to align with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy as a demonstration of shared strategic orientation and values
- an important encouragement for intensifying the regional cooperation and working on development of good neighborly relations as a prerequisite for successful integration
- a recognition of the paramount importance of communicating clearly to the citizens the benefits and obligations arising from their EU path, mobilizing support both in the EU as well as in the Western Balkan partners, including at the parliamentary level
Recognizing significant mutual benefits of integrating the Western Balkans into the European Union, the members of the Group:
- reaffirmed their conviction that keeping the Western Balkans regularly on the EU’s institutions’ agenda in all relevant formats is in the strategic interests of both the EU and candidate countries
- underlined the need for a predictable, merit-based and fair EU accession process based on the Copenhagen criteria and the agreed conditionalities, while promoting and contributing to good neighborly relations among the current and future EU members
- stressed the need for the EU to be internally preparing for the accession of new members, inter alia in the context of the ongoing negotiations on the new Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034, thereby reinforcing the overall credibility and predictability of the process
- encouraged the partners of the region to use in full scale the financial possibilities of the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, which creates an important tool for the implementation of necessary reforms and encouraged the European Commission to prepare for the post 2027 Growth Plan based on an assessment of the first period
- agreed to maintain high level of political engagement including mutual contacts and visits by EU Ministers and other high-level state representatives to strengthen the EU’s visibility in the region
- reiterated their firm support for delivering concrete and tangible benefits of gradual integration between the EU and the region even before membership, to demonstrate the practical advantages of EU integration for the Western Balkan partners already in the pre-accession phase, such as access to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) or extending EU roaming benefits to the Western Balkans and invited the European Commission to present concrete proposals for further gradual integration, including sectorial integration into the European single market
- committed themselves to promote discussions with the Western Balkan partners on EU sectoral policies in the informal meetings of various formations of the Council of the EU
- emphasized the importance of inclusive strategic communication with the respective publics in the EU member states as well as in the Western Balkan partners, including active early outreach towards the national parliaments with the prospect of the ratification process in mind
The group of the EU Friends of Western Balkans ministers, working closely together with the partners from the region, will remain a strong advocate of tangible progress in preparing the Western Balkans partners for EU membership calling upon our colleagues across the European Union to work further on this historic project seeing it further as one of the EU priorities.
