Heger: EU needs to deal with challenges in neighbourhood to be credible leader

Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger, who is currently in Slovenia to attend a summit of EU and Western Balkan countries, said on Wednesday before the first plenary meeting of the summit that if the European Union aims to be a credible global leader, it must cope with challenges arising in its neighbourhood, be it in the Western Balkans, Ukraine or even the Sahel region. "We all recognise that Europe needs to be a global leader, that it needs to have good relations with other leaders, but to be credible, we need to manage our relations in our neighbourhood," Heger said. "Our authority vis-a-vis players like China, the USA or Russia will depend on this."