BELGRADE, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Regional cooperation will help Western Balkan countries to reach European Union (EU) standards and attract young people to stay, presidents of Serbia, North Macedonia and Slovenia agreed on Saturday in a panel discussion at the Regional Youth Leadership Forum.
The three presidents were guest panelists at the annual youth forum taking place in Novi Sad, Serbia, on Nov. 22-24, which has drawn some 200 youth leaders from the region.
They were invited to talk about the measures that can be implemented to dissuade young people from leaving their own country for greener prairie in the European Union (EU), and the bloc's enlargement process.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said it is difficult for the region to create new energy for the young people looking to find better paid jobs abroad if cooperation initiatives between the countries of the Western Balkan are burdened with misunderstandings and tensions from the past.
According to him, the recent initiative to establish the so-called "Mini-Schengen" to improve ties among Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania, and eventually the entire Western Balkans - is a good signal that cooperation could come in the place of disputes.
If Western Balkan countries develop regional ties in such a way, he said, it would enable free travel and work for people across the region, as well as faster movement of goods, creating therefore a positive environment for young people.
Stevo Pendarovski, president of North Macedonia, who arrived on Friday for an official visit to Serbia, warned that the upcoming change in the EU enlargement methodology recently announced in Brussels might delay or even reset the negotiation process with the EU back to the beginning.
In the coming decade, Pendarovski said, if the region establishes some initiatives of its own in parallel to the negotiation process, this could lead to much faster development.
"I think that we have a chance to dissuade young people from leaving their countries. At the same time, we have an opportunity to change our societies by other means - and not just through closing chapters of the EU acquis," he said.
Slovenian President Borut Pahor said although Slovenia is outside the Balkan region, it stands for "a powerful and connected European Union," especially for EU's enlargement to the Western Balkan countries.
Pahor asked the countries to open towards each other - "not as a replacement for the European Union accession, but exactly in the same context as the enlargement process" - in order to develop cooperation and implement reforms.
He said stronger regional ties could be an adequate response of the Western Balkan countries to the deceleration of the EU enlargement process.
Citing a research which predicted that, if the region achieves long-term growth, the number of emigrants and immigrants will balance out in 2027, Vucic said: "Our goal is to try to accelerate this process."
Pendarovski believes it's the responsibility of politicians to create an opportunity for young people to stay in their countries.
While the region remains fully dependent on EU's development concept for it, he noted, it appears that the support for enlargement is fading among member states.
He drew attention to the decreasing support at a time when Western Balkan nations have become "addicted to international aid and support of western institutions" and are failing to sufficiently harness "their own capacities, resources, ideas and the creativity of local people."
"If I wasn't the president, I would also consider leaving in these circumstances," he joked.
The Western Balkan countries had been aiming at EU accession by the year 2025. However, their plan could be changed by recent ideas on a new enlargement method from Brussels.
