The European Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn said on Monday that the EU strategy for the Western Balkans published in February accelerated the dynamics in the region, but remained realistic regarding the Euro-integration, the Beta news agency reported.

“My principle for the enlargement is to export stability instead of importing instability,” Hahn told the EURACTIVE website in German.

“The Western Balkans are encircled with the EU countries and belong to Europe geographically, historically and culturally,” he said, adding it was in the best EU interest to secure the stability and prosperity in its neighbourhood.

He said that “that means the EU integration of the Western Balkans is an investment into security and stability of the bloc. One should not forget the geostrategic aspect: it would not be wise to leave behind a vacuum which other international players with values different from ours can use.”

Hahn added that Macedonia made the most significant step toward the Euro-integration of the Western Balkans’ states in the last year (after agreeing with Greece on a new name), but that the other regional countries also advanced more than before.

Asked if 2025, mentioned in the strategy as a possible date for joining the EU was too far for the Western Balkans, Hahn said that it was not, because the reforms needed for the membership demanded time and that the issue was not only to have adjusted regulations but also to implement them.

Bearing in mind the ratification procedures in some EU member states, “that indicative date is very ambitious, but achievable. The quality before speed,” Hahn added.