Von der Leyen vows to bring Western Balkan and EU economies 'closer' as four-day visit starts
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed to bring the economies of the Western Balkans and the European Union 'closer' on Monday as she began a four-day tour of the region.
Transcript
00:00 A 6 billion euro plan to double the size of the Western Balkan economies in the next 10
00:06 years.
00:07 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen starts her trip to the region with a
00:11 serious economic offer and a set of ambitious political requests.
00:16 In Kosovo, she asked for a drastic de-escalation of the conflict among the Albanian majority
00:21 and Serbian community.
00:22 And we`ve discussed the topic together that Kosovo could launch the procedure to establish
00:29 the association of Serb majority municipalities.
00:32 That is the draft statement of last week.
00:37 Serbia should deliver on de facto recognition.
00:44 The economic package promised by the European Commission to the Western Balkans has the
00:48 appeal of an opportunity that can only happen once.
00:51 There is a general mood in favor of enlarging the EU by 2030.
00:57 It does mean, however, that the candidates will have to accept political conditions that
01:02 some of their own population might find difficult to accept.
01:06 The slowly disintegrating world order means that tough choices will have to be made.
01:12 In the North Macedonian capital, President von der Leyen asked the country`s prime minister
01:16 to amend the constitution and formally recognize the existence of the Bulgarian minority.
01:23 Prime Minister Kovacevski will have to persuade the nationalist opposition, though.
01:27 We have a unique chance to secure the European Union for the state with the necessary decisions
01:34 in the Assembly, European integration and the Atlantic integration of the state.
01:38 Finally, for the first time in its political existence, the Parliament will show its support
01:44 for the European Union of the state.
01:46 Von der Leyen is also traveling to Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina as she
01:50 tries to push their governments to pursue the reforms needed in view of their integration
01:55 into the EU.
01:56 (whooshing)