Speaking for the first time in her mandate at the annual EU-Western Balkans Summit in Brussels, Marta Kos addressed attendees at an event hosted by the organisation Friends of Europe, with the WMG Foundation initiative EUpravo Zato as this year’s partner.
Marta Kos began by highlighting how the enlargement process has historically removed borders that once divided Europe, a trend that, she said, must continue today.
Through this process, historical tensions dissipate, and countries come together under shared values: peace, freedom, and progress.
"Today, these three values must be grounded in a stronger and more united Europe. The new European Commission is a Commission for Enlargement, and every member of the College of Commissioners has the task of playing a more active role in supporting candidate countries. They can rely on their expertise to build a larger and stronger EU, but the same spirit of unity must also manifest within your countries," Kos stated at the EU-Western Balkans Summit.
She emphasised that joining the EU must be a major national project involving not just governments but also civil society, municipalities, and individual citizens. To that end, she announced plans to visit regions beyond capital cities during her trips to Western Balkan countries to meet people in smaller communities.
"Integration involves a great deal of technical work—clusters, chapters, and so forth—but it’s important to recognise that this is not just a technical process; it’s about people," she remarked.
In concluding her speech, Kos reflected on Slovenia’s accession to the EU in 2004:
"At that time, people set off fireworks and celebrated with champagne. They weren’t celebrating just because of the benefits of joining the single market but also because they felt part of a growing community of values. As Milan Kundera put it, it marked the end of the kidnapping of one part of the West. However, that community of values is still incomplete; the continent is not yet united, and the kidnapping of one part of Europe continues," Kos remarked, adding that the situation is now beginning to change.
Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović also addressed the audience, while the first panel focused on the political dimensions of European integration for the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe.
The panel included Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, Moldova’s Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Cristina Gerasimov, Gert Jan Koopman, Director-General of the European Commission’s DG NEAR (Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations), and Urmas Paet, Member of the European Parliament and former Estonian Foreign Minister.
The discussion was moderated by Dharmendra Kanani, Chief Spokesperson for Friends of Europe.