French Ambassador: EU Cannot Strengthen Sovereignty Without Stability of Western Balkans

Pierre Cochard (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC/DS)

French Ambassador to Belgrade Pierre Cochard has said that the EU cannot strengthen its sovereignty without promoting the stability and prosperity of its neighborhood, while remaining committed to the enlargement strategy.

At a Dec. 16 reception held at the Embassy of France on the occasion of France's taking over chairmanship of the European Union, Cochard said that last week French President Emmanuel Macron had explicitly called for the EU's greater diplomatic and economic engagement for the region's stabilization and further integration.

"The Western Balkans are geographically and culturally at the heart of Europe. Our fates are deeply intertwined," said Cochard.

France will preside over the EU Council from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2022 and will organize a conference on the Western Balkans in June, said Cochard, adding that there was not much point in developing a green and innovative EU without including the Western Balkans.

"That is why I praise the opening of cluster four on the Green Agenda and sustainable connectivity (in Serbia's accession talks with the EU) and I expect that Serbia will work hard, continuing its reform path," he said.

According to Cochard, even though he has been in Belgrade for a short while, "I see the importance the accession dynamic has" for both the EU and Serbia. "French-Serbian bilateral relations are part of a broader framework in the future, in the European Union, which we want to define together. Maintaining this dynamic will be the idea behind my activities, alongside the chief of the EU Delegation and all the member states that are present in Serbia. We are counting on Serbia to resolutely contribute by continuing the reforms," said the French ambassador.