Szijjarto: Speed up EU integration of Western Balkans

The process of integrating Western Balkans countries into the European Union should be speeded up, Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's foreign minister, said on Thursday. Speaking at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, the Hungarian foreign minister expressed disappointment that the European Commission had set 2025 as the target date for their accession. He called for negotiating chapters with Montenegro and Serbia to be opened this year. He noted current tensions in the Western Balkans which, he said, would be best solved by European and Euro-Atlantic integration. Czaputowicz warned that if the EU were not present in the region, "then other actors who are not always in favour of European security may be." He added, at the same time, that it was important that the commission had outlined an accession timeline, "even if it is remote".