A summit of the heads of state of Western Balkan countries as part of the Brdo-Brijuni initiative started in Brdo Pri Kranju, Slovenia on Monday morning with the aim of bringing countries in Southeast Europe closer to their integration into the European Union.

In addition to the presidents of Croatia and Slovenia, Zoran Milanovic and Borut Pahor, Albanian President Ilir Meta, Montenegro’s Milo Djukanović, North Macedonia’s Stevo Pendarovski, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic, Kosovo’s Vjosa Osmani, and the three members of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency – Milorad Dodik, Sefik Dzaferovic and Zeljko Komsic – are attending the meeting.

The Brdo-Brijuni initiative was launched in 2010 by Slovenia and Croatia in an effort to strengthen regional trust and cooperation, as well as to encourage the EU membership aspirants to continue the necessary reforms to join the European Union.

Ahead of the plenary session, President Zoran Milanovic met for bilateral talks with Kosovo President Osmani and North Macedonia’s President Pendarovski.

Milanovic and Pahor met on Sunday, saying that they expected today’s summit to make a big step forward in bringing the region closer to the EU.

Slovenia will chair the Council of the EU in the second half of this year when it intends to boost the region’s faster integration as one of its presidency priorities, with Pahor saying that this was just as important for the EU as a whole for geopolitical reasons.

Slovenia is advocating a faster EU accession of Western Balkan countries “in a package,” despite them being in different positions regarding the phase of their accession process.

One of the important achievements of the Brdo-Brijuni initiative so far is communication between leaders considering that ten years ago it had not existed.

“We are here to help our neighbours in the Western Balkans join the EU as soon and as simply as possible,” Milanovic said on Sunday after meeting with Pahor.

In addition to the plenary session, the presidents are expected to conduct bilateral meetings and issue a joint statement expressing their strong commitment to the EU enlargement process towards the southeast neighbours.