Brussels – Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee Miro Kovač and Member of the Committee Romana Jerković took part in the interparliamentary meeting on the “Implementation of the European Consensus on Development and the Sustainable Development Goals”, organized by the European Parliament's Committee on Development, and in the interparliamentary meeting on the “European integration process of the Western Balkans”, organized by the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs.
At the meeting organized by the Committee on Development, MPs from the Member States of the European Union, the European Parliament and Norway exchanged views on the implementation of the new European Consensus on Development, a comprehensive common framework for European Development Cooperation in the decade ahead, fully applicable to all the institutions of the European Union and all the Member States. Also, MPs discussed the steps taken by the national parliaments of the Member States in managing the implementation of sustainable development goals.
The discussion on the European integration process of the Western Balkan countries brought together MPs from the EU Member States, the European Parliament, candidate countries and potential candidates for EU membership and Norway to exchange views on the progress of reforms in the countries of Southeast Europe and on the EU enlargement policy. The accession of Western Balkan countries to the European Union remains a key policy priority and in that sense the discussion underscored the importance of continuing the joint parliamentary work on the European future of the South East European partners.
Miro Kovač urged for a stronger involvement of the European Union and the Member States in the process of enlargement to the countries of South East Europe in order to preserve peace and stability in the region as well as in the entire European Union. He warned about the influence of foreign powers on Croatia's neighbouring countries and stressed that we should be aware that these states were at the centre of our continent and required our greater presence and assistance on their path to EU membership.