Szijjarto: EU needs Western Balkans more than ever

BUDAPEST - Hungarian FM Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday the EU must be aware it needed the Western Balkans more than ever and added that, for its part, Hungary was able to accelerate accession processes in terms of the security policy.

Szijjarto said this at a ministerial panel of the Budapest Balkans Forum (BBF), also attended by Serbian FM Ivica Dacic, North Macedonian FM Bujar Osmani and Albanian FM Olta Xhacka.

The more members the EU has, the stronger it is - as for all those advocating non-enlargement of the EU, I think they are working on weakening the Union, Szijjarto said.

He said membership candidates faced many obstacles.

Szijjarto also said that, in terms of the security policy, Hungary was able to accelerate processes as it faced a great threat due to immigration and illegal immigration.

He said the EU would not be able to withstand the pressure created by migration unless it included Western Balkan states in the processes.

The EU needs to accelerate the accession processes, and that has nothing to do with legal aspects - it is purely an expression of political will to take a country in sooner or more quickly, he said.

There should be no talk about obstacles - those who are in favour of strengthening the EU are in favour of quicker accession of new members, Szijjarto also said.