Slovak Foreign Minister Heads to Rome for Western Balkans Forum

Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár is traveling to Rome to attend a meeting of the Friends of the Western Balkans, a diplomatic forum of European foreign ministers focused on the region's integration into the European Union. Ministers at the gathering will discuss EU enlargement toward the Western Balkans — a group of countries including Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo that are at various stages of the EU accession process — as well as measures to strengthen Europe's strategic autonomy, meaning the continent's capacity to act independently in security and foreign policy matters. Slovakia, under Prime Minister Robert Fico's government, has maintained an active interest in EU enlargement policy, though the current administration has also drawn attention for its divergence from mainstream EU positions on other issues, including the war in Ukraine.