Western Balkans and EU Member States Agree to Further Cooperation in Face of Middle East Crises

On Thursday 8 October 2015, the high levlel 'Eastern Route of the Mediterranean and the Western Balkans' conference took place, assembling EU Interior and Foreign Affairs Ministers and their counterparts from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and the Western Balkans to discuss migration flows from the Middle East.

The high-level conference was co-chaired by Luxembourg Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn, and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini.

"It’s joining forces to tackle an issue which is going to be very difficult to solve, root causes but also humanitarian assistance and support to countries of transit," commented Federica Mogherini.

Following the conference, a joint declaration was adopted by the participants with a view to furthering cooperation between all countries concerned and enhancing the support of efforts of States particularly affected by the refugee crisis, including the neighbouring states of Syria.

"We must honour the oversized effort in terms of the reception of the neighbouring countries of Syria, but also be vigilant with regard to the impact on the societies in question," commented Minister Asselborn. "Regarding Western Balkans, we have the advantage of being bound by a strong partnership forged over the years as part of the enlargement, stabilisation and association process. This migration crisis, the largest in Europe since the Second World War, is also an opportunity for us to stregthen our partnership further with the region and intensify our cooperation".

The Minister concluded: "It is necessary, in this migration crisis, to advance a global logic and act on several fronts simultaneously, since both the causes of migration and possible solutions have effects which interact. Thus the meeting tonight with particularly affected non-member countries is one more element in the search for solutions".

Photo by European Council (L-R: High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini; Luxembourg Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn)