President of Slovakia Peter Pellegrini says that he believes that no country, regardless of how difficult its situation may be, should be fast-tracked or given preferential treatment to join the EU. Instead, it must go through the full path of negotiations and reforms before becoming a member. Which is why, he said the countries with the rightful claim to European Union membership are primarily those in the Western Balkans, including N. Macedonia.
“That is why I am convinced that the countries that have the rightful claim to a European Union membership are primarily the countries of the Western Balkans, including North Macedonia. There was a summit of foreign ministers of the Friends of the Western Balkans group, and no one changed their opinion. Slovakia will continue to speak out about this at the political level. Something else that we discussed with the Madam President – I cannot imagine that the EU would expand with a country that is at war with the Russian Federation. It was attacked by the Russian Federation. This could mean that a country that is not part of the EU would become part of it under such conditions. When we think about the future of Ukraine, the first condition is to negotiate fairly and stop the war. Then we can talk about Ukraine’s potential membership in the EU. This conflict should be resolved diplomatically and this should be the basic condition for any future discussion on Ukraine’s EU accession,” said President Pellegrini.
