“I do not agree with the ‘non-paper’, my position is totally opposite and alternatives such as changing borders should not be discussed. I want to convince my interlocutors to continue the EU enlargement process,“ said Slovenian President Borut Pahor.
President of Slovenia Pahor made that comment during an official visit to Kosovo on Thursday where he had talks with his host, President Vjosa Osmani.
The main agenda of Pahor’s visit was the preparation of the Brdo-Brijuni Summit which is set to be held in Ljubljana on Monday having as its major goal to try to convince the EU Member States to agree on enlargement policies towards the Western Balkans.
Kosovo is part of the tour that the Slovenian head of state is making in the regional countries which brought him to Albania as well he had talks with President Ilir Meta.
As he stressed even in Tirana during the talks with his counterpart and interviews with local media Pahor said that he does not agree with the “non-papers” proposing changes of borders in the Western Balkans, saying that he has a totally opposite stance on this issue. Moreover he said that he did not know anything about the authors of that paper.
President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani, who hosted Pahor on Thursday, said that Slovenia has never supported the change of borders in the Balkans.
“Let me reconfirm that I have never seen the involvement of Slovenia in adventures such as ideas on change of borders, on the contrary, there were summits in Slovenia when participants had a clear stance that change of borders harms the region. I want to thank President Pahor for reconfirming his position today,” Osmani said.
Osmani stated that she informed the Slovenian president that Pristina would continue to participate in the dialogue with Belgrade, but also emphasized that the change of borders would not be discussed, KoSSev reported.
“Our borders were defined in 2008. Kosovo will sit at the table and deal with topics that are important for our country,” said Osmani.
In her address, she also confirmed that she would attend the Brdo-Brijuni Summit. She said that Kosovo is committed to EU integration, but also once again called on the European Union to “fulfill its promise” and grant Kosovo visa liberalization.
It was alleged by different sources that the Slovenian leadership was involved in promoting the ideas of border changes in the Balkans along ethnic lines, but Prime Minister Janez Janša and President Pahor have categorically denied they supported the idea. / argumentum.al
