The President of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, expressed concern over some statements that can be heard in the Western Balkans lately and emphasized that the only response to the situation would be accelerating the process of EU enlargement to the region.

„I am worried about some processes in the Western Balkans, today even more because of some statements that we can hear and I think we can only respond to them with a quick, successful enlargement of the European Union to that part of Europe,“ Pahor said after meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Sunday.

He said that he has always been and remains committed to the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU, that it is important for the well-being of the people in that region as well as in the EU, and that lately it has become important in terms of peace and security.

The Slovenian president said that he had recently warned that the process of including the Western Balkans in the EU was too slow and that political nationalism and statements about border changes that endangered peace and security in the region were becoming stronger again.