site.btaAtlantic Club President: Western Balkans Should Create Common Market That Is More Tailored to Local Needs than EU's

At the EU Meets the Balkans Forum here on Monday, the President of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, Solomon Passy, said that the Western Balkans should create a common market, which would be more tailored to local needs than the common market of the European Union. In his words, this should be done to "show the EU that our Balkan intellectual and political potential works very well". Passy noted that the rest of the Balkan countries that have already joined the EU will assist the process.

He called on the Western Balkans to unite around the goal of completing the EU accession negotiations by 2027. "Nothing stops the Western Balkans from having a vision and integrating with each other before they integrate into the EU. We must be aware that the EU is faced and will continue to be faced with one main, very powerful adversary, enemy and foe, namely Russia," Passy noted. 

In his words, "it is not good for the European debate that there will be two-in-one elections," meaning simultaneous European and snap national parliamentary elections.