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Home , Politics of Slovenia

ISSN: 2560-1601

Vol. 11, No. 4 (SI)

October 2018

Slovenia External Relations briefing: New Foreign Ministry visits to the Western Balkans region Helena Motoh

1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11.

+36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. [email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: Chen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu New Foreign Ministry visits to the Western Balkans region

Summary With the main foreign policy issue – the implementation of the arbitration court decision with Croatia – at a standstill and with the internal political issues being brought to the front with the upcoming local elections, not many foreign policy issues were presented in media in the past month. Partly away from the media attention, however, the new Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and his directorates visited several countries in the Western Balkans and the countries of the region, signaling also 's desired role and its support for the in the accession processes and stability in that region.

Background: Slovenia's relation to the Western Balkans Countries

The historical relationship between Slovenia and the countries of the Western Balkans is a long and profound one. Being part of the same political entity with all the Western Balkans countries except for from 1918 until 1991 naturally established numerous historical, social, political, economic and personal ties, many which still persist despite the turbulent political changes in the last three decades. Linguistic similarity which enables an easier communication in all of the previous aspects is an important factor in these connections. For Slovenia today, the neighboring Western Balkans is of strategic importance for economic and security reasons. Relations with these countries: Albania, , Former Yugoslav of Macedonia, , and Serbia are an important focus of Slovenian foreign policy, while their relationship with EU and the accession processes are also an important factor in these relations. Relationship with the EU member states from the region are also of significant importance for Slovenian foreign policy.

1 Regular bilateral relations are maintained and Slovenia actively supports the stability building and reform-oriented processes in the Western Balkans countries. Slovenian foreign policy supports the accession processes in all Western Balkans countries on the level of the Council of the structures and in bilateral connections. Based on the experience with the solving of its own bilateral issues with Croatia over the border dispute, Slovenian foreign policy seeks to promote the resolution of open bilateral issues among the Western Balkans countries and between them and other neighboring countries prior to their accession to the Euro-Atlantic integrations. Slovenian activities in NATO focus on the strategic importance of the region, where it helps potential members and membership candidates with security-political consultations and other activities. Slovenia served as NATO contact embassy in Skopje (FYRM) and later in Podgorica (Montenegro).

Economic relations are also an important part of the Slovenian relations to the Western Balkans region. For Slovenia, Western Balkans is the second most important market regarding the trade in goods. In 2017 the trade in goods with the Western Balkan countries was 3.1 billion Euros, a 10.1 % increase compared to 2016. The total trade in goods with all the Western Balkans countries makes up 5.6 % of Slovenian foreign trade exchange. Both import and export are growing at 17.4 % and 6.3 % respectively, reaching 2 billion Euros in Slovenian export and 1.1 billion Euros in Slovenian import. The most important market is Serbia, where Slovenia exports 2.9 % of total foreign exports, and Bosnia and Herzegovina with 2.5 % (all data from Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' report).

Western Balkans region is also the destination for a big part of the investment of Slovenian companies with a 64% of direct investment in the value of 2.1 billion Euros, making Slovenia an important investor in several of the Western Balkans countries. Serbia was the destination of 16% of all investments abroad, receiving 948 million Euros, 8% of foreign investment (473.5 million

2 Euros) was made in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6% (357.5 million Euros) in Macedonia (data from the report).

Brdo-Brijuni Process

These connections were formalized and promoted in the so-called Brdo- Brijuni Process, which connects Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania. The idea which was first established in the meeting of the Prime Ministers Slovenia and Croatia, and Jadranka Kosor, in Kranjska Gora, in January 2010, was officially realized at a prime minister-level conference about the Western Balkans in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia on March 2010. Apart from addressing the common issues within the region, the main idea of the Brdo-Brijuni process was that the reform processes and EU integration processes should be supported by a discussion and problem solving within the region itself. One of the common goals was to identify specific projects and initiatives to promote regional cooperation and integration, especially in the shape of joint infrastructure, transport and energy projects. The Brdo-Brijuni process continues in the format of the yearly meetings of Prime Ministers of these countries (the last one in Skopje in April 2018).

Additionally, the process moved to the level of separate ministries, i.e. the Ministries of Transport and Infrastructure conferences and the very important Western Balkans Counter terrorism Initiative, WBCTi, which aims at building an effective coordinated response to the terrorism threats in the region. Similar initiatives were pursued between the Ministries of Justice, where imitative was to better counter organized crime and corporate crime.

Brdo-Brijuni Process can be seen as a precursor for two other initiatives which are focused on the Western Balkans region. The first one, the so-called Berlin Process, was launched in August 2014 by German Chancellor Angela

3 Merkel as an initiative to promote regional cooperation with the aim of a smoother and more successful EU integration process in the Western Balkans region. The process is supported by EU institutions, European Commission and international financial institutions. It includes several EU member states outside the region: Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Poland and United Kingdom, two member states connected to the region: Slovenia and Croatia, and six Western Balkans states (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania).

Ministry of Foreign affairs activities in the region – October On October 10 and 11, the Director of the Directorate for Economic and Public Diplomacy, Alenka Suhadolnik, took part in the bilateral economic consultations at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry for Finances and Economy of the Republic of Albania. She met with Etjen Xhafaj, Deputy Foreign Minister, and with the Deputy Minister at the Ministry for Finances and Economy. Slovenian delegation also presented Slovenian investment environment and the model of Slovenian economic diplomacy. She also met with representatives of Slovenian firms in Albania, The Balkan Centre for Cooperation and development (BCCD), Albanian Development and Investment Agency (AIDA) and several others. In the meetings it was stressed that the current economic cooperation between the two countries is rather low and that there is a lot of potential to deepen this cooperation. The trend of the trade of goods exchange is growing, with a 16, 7 % growth in 2017 compared to the 2016. The particular areas where this improvement was identified as having the most potential are environment protection, energy, food industry and tourism.

On October 24, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, Miroslav Cerar, conducted his first official visit to Macedonia, where he met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia, Nikola Dimitrov. Together they held the opening ceremony of the new Slovenian Embassy in Skopje, which is seen as another

4 important step in further improving the bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries. In the speech at the opening ceremony Prime Minister Cerar stressed the importance of ties between two countries not only on the level of economic and political relations, but also in culture, arts, education and science. Especially education was stressed in this regard, with more than 700 students from Macedonia came to study in Slovenia last year. Both foreign ministers stressed the importance of the support for Macedonia from the countries of the region in the process of EU accession. In the meeting between the two Ministers of Foreign Affairs this topic was also one of the most important. Minister Cerar expressed Slovenian support for the start of the necessary constitutional changes which were confirmed with the necessary majority in Macedonian parliament. Slovenian Foreign Minister congratulated the Dimitrov for the brave decision of the government to pursue the constitutional changes which will enable the realization of the June 2018 Prespan agreement between Greece and Macedonia. Necessary political compromise about the change of the name into »Northern Macedonia« could according to Cerar be seen as an important paradigm for solving future disagreements and difficulties in the region. He also expressed Slovenian position that Macedonia already matches the necessary criteria for the continuation of EU accession negotiations. Cerar also met with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and President Gjorge Ivanov where accession topics were addressed, along with the problems related to the Balkan migration route, where Slovenia promised to continue its assistance by sending police troops to help in the border region.

Conclusion

The region of the Western Balkans is a key region for Slovenian economic and political relations. Even more, its stability and progress of EU accession are seen as of utmost importance for Slovenia, also because of the joint initiatives

5 and the current and potential investment in the region. In the case of Macedonia and the recent controversy over changing the name of the country which was the condition of the Prespan agreement, Slovenia strongly expressed its support for the constitutional changes, which would enable Macedonia to pursue a pro-EU direction of development.

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