The speakers of Bosnia's House of Peoples Bakir Izetbegović and House of Representatives Borjana Kristo received the invitation to take part in the meeting of parliamentary speakers from the Western Balkans to debate the role of Parliaments in EU Enlargement post-COVID, which will take place on June 28 in Brussels, the statement said Wednesday.

Speakers from the parliaments of Albania, BiH, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia will meet in Brussels for the European Parliament’s Second Western Balkans Speakers’ Summit.

There they will discuss the key role of parliaments in the EU enlargement process in a post-COVID-era with European Parliament President David Sassoli. While in Brussels they will also meet members of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.

On that occasion, President Sassoli said he was glad to welcome the speakers from the Western Balkans for the second time in the European Parliament. It is crucial to reassert the role of the Western Balkans’ Parliaments and the EP in the EU enlargement process, as an essential pre-condition for building robust democracies, fit for a common European future. This is even more important after the COVID-19 crisis, which has challenged Parliaments all around the globe.”

Speakers of the Parliaments of Portugal and Slovenia, representing the current and upcoming rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU, will also participate in the Summit.

The first EP-Western Balkans Speakers’ Summit took place at the European Parliament on 28 January 2020 under the patronage of President Sassoli. The Joint Declaration issued afterwards reaffirmed the fundamental role of parliaments in driving forward the EU reform agenda and in delivering on the European aspirations of the Western Balkans’ people.