The Hungarian Presidency of the Central European Defence Co-operation (CEDC) organised an official meeting of the defence policy directors of the CEDC member states and the Western Balkan countries in Balatonakarattya, Hungary on 4-5th April 2024. The participants were welcomed by Mr. László Hajnik, Deputy State Secretary for Defence Policy of the Ministry of Defence of Hungary.
In addition to the CEDC countries, Belgrade, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje and Tirana were represented at the two-day event. The official programme started with a short discussion with representatives of the six CEDC member states, followed by a plenary session with the Western Balkan partners.
The discussions provided an excellent opportunity to present the priorities and ideas of the annual Hungarian CEDC Presidency, to review the key events of the upcoming period and to discuss further CEDC-initiated projects of particular regional importance.
During the plenary session, the participants focused on the security and defence challenges in the Western Balkans as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war and exchanged views on efforts to maintain regional stability. The participants unanimously agreed that the integration of the Western Balkan partners into the EU is timely and necessary, and that concrete steps need to be taken, as the security of the EU cannot be separated from the security and stability of the region.
The discussion also served to prepare the ground for a ministerial meeting between CEDC and Western Balkan countries in Budapest on 25th April 2024.
