Prime Minister Luc Frieden attended three days of negotiations in Brussels on the occasion of the EU-Western Balkans Summit and the European Council.
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Luc Frieden, Prime Minister
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Luc Frieden, Prime Minister
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(fr. l. to r.) Luc Frieden, Prime Minister; Charles Michel, President of the European Council
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(fr. l. to r.) Mark Rutte, Prime Minister and Minister for General Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; Uif Kristerrsson, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden; Robert Tico, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic; Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium; Luc Frieden, Prime Minister; Leo Varadkar, Prime Minister of Ireland; Charles Michel, President of the European Council.
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(fr. l. to r.) Luc Frieden, Prime Minister; Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
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(fr. l. to r.) Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic; Luc Frieden, Prime Minister
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(fr. l. to r.) Luc Frieden, Prime Minister; Antonio Costa, Prime Minister of the Portuguese Republic
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(fr. l. to r.) Luc Frieden, Prime Minister; Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia
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(fr. left to r.) Luc Frieden, Prime Minister; Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
On Wednesday 13 December 2023, the Prime Minister attended the summit between the European Union and the countries of the Western Balkans. Now held annually, this summit led to the adoption of a joint declaration by the Council and the partner countries, which reiterated their mutual desire to deepen their relations.
The main points of the declaration include the importance of alignment with the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy, as well as enhanced cooperation on security and defence, alongside the main strands of existing cooperation, such as freedom of movement. In the current geopolitical context, continued engagement with the countries of the Western Balkans is of strategic importance.
Furthermore, in response to the conclusions of the last summit held in Tirana, Luxembourg has pledged to finance a student scholarship for the inaugural year of the College of Europe campus, which will be established in Albania.
The summit was immediately followed by a two-day European Council on 14 and 15 December 2023. The topics on the agenda were the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East, enlargement and reforms, the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, security and defence, migration, EU-Turkey relations, the fight against anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia and the strategic programme.
A strong signal of solidarity was sent to the international community: the European Union has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, to grant candidate country status to Georgia on condition that the measures recommended by the Commission are taken, and to open accession negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina once the necessary degree of compliance with the accession criteria has been achieved. The EU has also stated that it is ready to complete the opening phase of accession negotiations with Northern Macedonia once certain constitutional changes referred to in previous Council conclusions have been implemented.
While the discussions on the multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027 resulted in the Council re-setting a date of early 2024 to return to the subject, the exchanges on the security aspects within the Union yielded a concrete result: increasing the interoperability and production capacity of the European defence industry, inter alia through the implementation of a European defence industrial strategy.
Press release by the Ministry of State