Foreign relations of Slovenia

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini addressed reporters ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council to announce that this will be "a chance with to exchange views on how to better work with our partners in the Western Balkans for our common security and prosperity."

European Union foreign ministers disagreed on Thursday over a proposal by the bloc's executive to push for expansion into the Western Balkans, a region still scarred by ethnic wars fought in the 1990s and dogged by a reputation for lawlessness.

EU's new strategy "holds out the prospect that two countries could 'potentially' be ready to join the EU by 2025."

These are Serbia and Montenegro, writes the website Politico, in a piece dedicated to EU's enlargement strategy for the Western Balkans, unveiled on Tuesday.

The EU will "hold out the prospect of membership" to "six Western Balkan countries," writes the Financial Times.

They are Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, but also the self-proclaimed state of Kosovo.

According to the draft European Commission strategy, 2025 as the year of the Western Balkan countries' admission to the EU is not any kind of "a fixed date."

Instead, writes Vienna's Presse newspaper, it represents "only the best case scenario."

The newspaper said it learned this from the European Commission.

Instead, writes Vienna's Presse newspaper, it represents "only the best case scenario."

The newspaper said it learned this from the European Commission.

The European Commission's goal, according to a draft to be presented on February 7, is to "increase reform pressure" on "countries like Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo".

The British House of Lords warns in a new report published on Wednesday that Western Balkan countries are increasingly turning towards authoritarianism, and that stability in the region is being undermined by outside countries like Russia.

WASHINGTON - Stabilisation in the Western Balkans is key to economic development in the region, Serbian First Deputy PM and FM Ivica Dacic said in Washington on Wednesday.

On Friday, another round of expert consultations on the Balkans and the enlargement of the European Union took place in Brussels, a Russian diplomat said on Tuesday, quoted by BGNES. 

US Homeland Security Adviser Herbert McMaster has held a meeting with the foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.