Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) considers the UN Security Council resolution, which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the first time, as a “sign of life” from the UN. The most important thing, he said, is bringing more humanitarian aid to Gaza and freeing the hostages.
“Anything that helps will be supported by us,” he announced on Tuesday after the meeting of the five Central European foreign ministers, the so-called “Central 5”, in Ljubljana.
The host, Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, expressed hope that the first such resolution, adopted by the UN Security Council on Monday, would first lead to a temporary ceasefire and humanitarian aid to civilians and later to lasting peace. The resolution was proposed by the group of non-permanent members of the Security Council, including Slovenia. The adoption of the resolution in the most powerful body of the United Nations came about because the US, which has the veto power, abstained from voting.
During their eleventh meeting in this format, the Foreign Ministers of Austria and Slovenia also discussed on Tuesday with their counterparts from the Czech Republic (Jan Lipavský), Hungary (Péter Szijjártó) and Slovakia (Juraj Blanár) the rapprochement of the countries of the Western Balkans with the EU, irregularly Advise migration and the war in Ukraine.
EU accession talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Central European neighbors were unanimous in their support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans. On this issue, “we’re all moving in the same direction,” Schallenberg said. He was “very pleased” with the EU Council’s recent decision to start accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. “This was an extremely important encouragement for the region,” the foreign minister said. In view of an “ambitious agenda” of the future Hungarian presidency of the EU Council regarding the EU integration of the Western Balkans, he stressed that Austria supports these plans.
Hungary, which will hold the EU Council presidency in the second half of the year, has decided to accelerate the integration process of the five Western Balkans candidate countries, Foreign Minister Szijjártó said. According to the Hungarian chief diplomat, the Central European countries have a special responsibility and must join forces for enlargement, because they ‘actually’ support it and are therefore in the minority in the EU. “If there was a supportive atmosphere for enlargement in the EU, it could not happen that the five countries together have been waiting for membership for 74 years.” He said this in reference to the fact that the average waiting time for the candidate of the Western Balkan countries is fourteen years and ten months.
Hungary: EU must be given freshness and impetus
The Hungarian Foreign Minister emphasized that the EU will gain freshness and new impetus through expansion to the Western Balkans. According to him, this is one of the two main objectives of the Hungarian Presidency. The other is ‘restoring security’ in the EU, which Hungary combines with ‘strengthening efforts against illegal migration’. According to Szijjártó, on the one hand, the security of the EU’s external borders must be strengthened and on the other hand, the so-called pull factors must be weakened. “We must make it clear that refugee quotas are the main attraction factors. As long as they exist, we cannot talk about a real fight against illegal migration,” he said.
The next meeting of the five foreign ministers of Central Europe will take place in Slovakia.
Source: Krone
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