At the leadership session of the Munich Security Conference, a special panel was devoted to the Western Balkans. Member of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Alliance of Montenegro, Milica Pejanović Đurišić, also participated in it.
She told Deutsche Welle (DW) that it was extremely important that a panel was dedicated to the situation in the region.
"It was not done by chance, but really with the intention that all those who deal with that region try to discuss in an honest and open exchange of opinions how to get out of the problems that we are all aware of. So, we know the problems, we have a diagnosis, and the question is how that region can return to what was a priority goal for all of us - stability, security and economic development. What is the best methodology for that, whether it is some of these regional initiatives that have appeared recently", said Pejanović Đurišić.
As she said, the question arises whether it will be effective, whether it further deepens the differences between different states, residents, citizens, or whether there are some more effective mechanisms.
"In that sense, of course, we talked about the Open Balkans and the Berlin process, as a process for regional integration that should not have an alternative, in terms of the quality of the procedure itself and the methodology provided for in the manner in which cooperation can be achieved" , said Pejanović Đurišić.
Again, as he adds, all this is in function of the goal of bringing the EU closer together, in order to achieve the necessary stability.
"Of course, we talked about all this from the aspect of what security means in our countries, especially in the conditions in which we have Russia's aggression against Ukraine, about the risks that it will have an impact on the region, that some of those, simply, trends that appear when it comes to questioning the international order, they replicate in that region. And I think we all agreed that there is no other way without all our international partners being our partners in the region with one voice and working together in terms of the necessary reforms and in terms of creating the conditions for building truly democratic societies, which will have a high degree of resistance to all potential malignant influences, from whichever side they come from," said Pejanović Đurišić.
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