May 29, 2009 - on the occasion of his official visit to Romania, the minister of foreign affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajcak, took part at a round table organised at Nicolae Titulescu European Foundation on the subject "The European Perspective of Western Balkans". At the event there were present members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited in Bucharest, among them the chiefs of missions of the countries pertaining to the Western Balkans, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of the Romanian Parliament, representatives of non-governmental organisations. The round table was moderated by Bogdan Aurescu, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Slovakian Foreign Minister made a presentation, replied to the questions and commented some of the remarks made by the participants that took the floor.
Taking the floor during the debates, the president of Paneuropa Foundation Romania made reference to his recent participation at the international conference "The Balkans and Kosovo: Economy and Politics", organised by Universum Institute of Economic and Social Studies of Pristina, which offered him the occasion to take notice of the great expectations of the states in the region linked to their future accession to the EU family, but also a certain impatience doubled by a not dissimulated anxiety that the European Union might no longer apply the same accession criteria as was the case for the last twelve member states, but, on the contrary, to make even tougher these criteria, considering the growth of "euroscepticism" all over the European Union, coupled with a diminishing interest towards the region, having in view its territory, population, economic potential, political power and military capability. He expressed the opinion that the European Union should convey to these state a more comprehensive and visible message about its firm commitment towards the European perspective of the West Balkan States, that the same accession criteria will be applied and there will be a corresponding financial and technical assistance to these countries throughout the pre-accession time.
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