The MEP of ND and EPP, Fredis Beleris, addressed the Plenary of the European Parliament during a debate on “Preparation of the EU-Western Balkans summit”.

Mr. Beleris emphasized that the European Union-Western Balkans summit is a good opportunity “to discuss the speed and conditions with which this necessary enlargement will proceed”.

Subsequently, he underlined that this enlargement should not be done with cold war logic. “In other words, let’s not extend a hand of friendship to states simply so that they don’t succumb to pressure from countries like Russia,” he added.

The ND and EPP MEP noted that “if the quality of democracy and political stability have not reached a satisfactory level, these countries, being member states, may re-emerge syndromes and pathologies of their history”.
At another point of his intervention, he pointed out that “we must not make concessions on matters of the rule of law. The imprisonment of the opposition leaders in Albania – the eve of elections – is indicative of how the instrumentalization of Justice can turn a democratic state into an authoritarian regime.”

“The disregard of these conditions to serve political expedients is perceived by some of the public opinion of these countries as
support for specific governments and creates anti-European reflexes. This is something that should definitely be avoided,” he concluded characteristically.