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10 October 2024 National Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabic at the opening of the meeting of the Sub-Committee on the Western Balkans of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Thursday, 10 October 2024

National Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabic at Opening of PACE Sub-Committee on Western Balkans Meeting

At the opening of the meeting of the Sub-Committee on the Western Balkans of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Belgrade today, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Ana Brnabic said that, in addition to European integration, regional connection and cooperation is a top priority of Serbia's foreign policy.

"Serbia is absolutely and firmly determined for stability and progress in our region, the region of Western Balkans. Without a safe, stable, infrastructural and well-connected, economically prosperous region, in which young people want to stay, live, work, to build their careers, start families - there is no economically strong and successful Serbia, which we aspire to," said Brnabic at Metropol hotel.

She said that we are a comparatively small region and no individual can be strong, stable or successful, if the entire region is not stable and economically prosperous. "That is why, in addition to European integration, which is our foreign policy’s top most priority, regional connection and cooperation is one of Serbia's key priorities," Brnabic pointed out.

She added that everyone in the region should engage in dialogue, in which they will not back down in front of difficult issues, but look for real solutions. "The economic challenges that we as a region face and work in, in the field of energy, without which we also as a region cannot progress, show us our future. Serbia is ready to assume its role in strengthening economic partnerships that promote growth and sustainability," said Brnabic.

The Speaker of Serbian Parliament said that Serbia remains fully committed to this path and that the Assembly will continue to implement reforms, and that the focus remains on reforms in the area of the rule of law, but that it will also continue to care for national interests.

"We expect everyone to respect our sovereignty in the same way that we fundamentally respect the territorial integrity of all others, because it is about respecting international law, which must be equally valid for everyone," she said.

The Chairperson of the Sub-Committee on the Western Balkans of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Alexis Tsipras, said that the Sub-Committee is meeting for the first time in the Western Balkans and that he hopes that more of its meetings can be held in different cities of the region. He opined that if EU’s cooperation with the Western Balkans is not successful, it might have dire consequences for the stability of the EU.

He said that we are currently undergoing s period of crisis due to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and it is vital to ensure stability. Tsipras pointed out that today, the international community must be more honest than it has been in the previous 30 years, and that the West must re-examine the mistakes it made - especially in the matter of military interventions.

He also pointed out that terrorism must be stopped, but that killing thousands of civilians in order to oppose terrorism is not the way, which is happening in the Middle East. According to him, it is important that Europe directs its resources toward dialogue and use all the resources it has to ensure that the war in Ukraine stops.

Source: TANJUG