SARAJEVO – Prime Minister of Slovenia Marjan Šarec has nominated Janez Lenarčič, head of the mission of Slovenia to European Union, as the new Commissioner for Enlargement, and MEP Tanja Fajon believes he would maintain strong support for the Western Balkans’ accession to the EU.
“Slovenia has the experience, it is close to the region, it would definitively be a positive thing for the region, because our country will be presiding over the (Council of the) European Union in 2021 and it will put the enlargement high on its agenda”, she says for Avaz.
Fajon herself was regarded as a potential candidate for the position, but it is the right of Prime Minister to nominate whomever he wants, she states.
“I wish Janez Lenarčič, who I know very well, to work well in the interest of all in the EU”, she emphasises.
Fajon was elected for the third mandate in the European Parliament this May as a member of the Socialists and Democrats Group. She voted against the election of Ursula von der Leyen for the President of the European Commission on 16 July due to the abandoning of the Spitzenkanidaten procedure.
“In the end, EU leaders have closed their eyes and non-transparently agreed on something completely different, which is not a democratic process”, Fajon assesses.
When it comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU accession process, she believes that the new Council of Ministers should be formed as soon as possible, and that the country is sending a negative picture of itself to the EU.
“I honestly wish that Bosnia and Herzegovina remains an united country and that its politicians continue to work on the same goal – EU reforms that would improve the lives of people. Some say to me that I am an utopist, but I will remain a careful optimist and won’t lose my trust in BiH”, Fajon stresses.