Sofia today hosts a long-awaited summit meeting between the EU and Western Balkan countries. The forum is the biggest event within the framework of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. President of the European Council Donald Tusk has identified it as the first opportunity for Western Balkans leaders to hold a direct discussion with their EU counterparts for the past 15 years.

The importance the EU attaches to the event is highlighted by the high level of representatives. To participate in the forum, in Sofia arrived President of the European Council Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani. In January, they were in Sofia for the opening of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, and now they are here to take part in the high-level event of this Presidency's top priority – the European perspective and connectivity of the Western Balkan countries.

On the day before the meeting, some events and statements in Sofia managed to allay skepticism of some towards the meeting. It has become clear that a draft final declaration has already been prepared. The fact that the project has been accepted by all 28 EU members demonstrates unity on key issues of European policy towards the Western Balkans. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy confirmed that Spain would not participate in the summit, but came to Sofia to join in the informal European council ahead of it, saying the draft declaration allowed Spain to support it. In contrast to the Balkan meeting held in Thessaloniki in 2003, when no country in the region was eligible for EU membership talks, progress in relation to EU perspectives of the region now makes it possible for actual decisions linked to financing projects and programs to be made. It is expected that the first such programs will be launched today: Bulgaria and Serbia will sign a memorandum on the gas connection between the two countries. A day later, similar memorandum will be signed between Bulgaria and Macedonia. High expectations in this regard have also fueled a statement by President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, that today in Sofia the EU will show care for the socio-economic development of the Balkan region and will confirm that its European perspective remains intact. In order to encourage decisions in this direction, Prime Minister Borissov said that while the EU did not risk anything with the inclusion of the Western Balkan countries, it would take a big risk if it did nit integrate them because then the influence of the US, Russia, and Saudi Arabia in the region will increase. A refusal to integrate the region would be a retreat from already gained positions by the EU. According to Bulgarian Minister of Economy Emil Karanikolov, these days the EU is the main investor in the Balkans. In trade turnover of the countries in the region, the EU share reaches 73%, while that of China is 7 percent and that of Russia - 4.8%.

Today's summit in Sofia also shows that the first Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU is successful. Even the leader of the Party of European Socialists, Sergei Stanishev, in opposition to the currently ruling party in Bulgaria, defined today's summit in Sofia as a peak of the Bulgarian presidency and welcomed the return of the Balkan topic to the Union's agenda for the first time since 2003, which has been a clear success for Bulgaria. President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, commented that inclusion of the countries of the Western Balkans in the EU must remain a priority policy after the end of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković confirmed that his country would initiate another EU - Western Balkans summit in 2020 with the intention of further boosting EU integration processes of the countries of the region.

English: Alexander Markov