TALINN – Estonia hosted an informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers (Gymnich), with the participation of several Ministers of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Western Balkan States, whose main topics were the issues of terrorism and violent extremism.
The head of Estonian diplomacy, who chairs the Council of the European Union until the end of the year, Sven Mikser, announced the holding of a joint meeting of ministers from member states and candidate countries to discuss prevention of radicalization and the fight against radicalization. radical extremism.
“This is an important subject for both Member States and candidate countries. We will not deal directly with EU enlargement today, but it is a very important topic for the whole enlargement process,” Mikser said at the start of the second day of the informal meeting.
Also participating in the meeting are the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Western Balkans region, Srđan Darmanović, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, Ditmir Bushati, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Nikola Dimitrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia, Jadranka Joksimović, the Minister of European Integration of Serbia, as well as by the head of European diplomacy, Federica Mogherini.
“I think it is good to talk with the candidate countries about radicalism and terrorism, because it is not only a problem for the member states but also for the candidate countries. Good cooperation and exchange of opinions are important for us and for our security,” said Serbian Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimović.
Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati stressed that to prevent the spread of extremist ideology, economic development and employment opportunities for young people should remain a top priority. In this context, he highlighted the need to reduce the economic development gap between EU countries and our region, also through the financial instruments of the EU enlargement process.
