Bled Strategic Forum 2025: Subdued Mood and Scepticism Towards EU Enlargement

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Bled Pledge: A Dream or Reality? Keynote address by António Costa, President of the European Council

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Bled Pledge: A Dream or Reality? Robert Golob, Prime Minister of Slovenia; Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement; Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia; Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania; Milojko Spajić, Prime Minister of Montenegro

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Audience

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Robert Golob, Prime Minister of Slovenia

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Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia

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Bled Pledge: A Dream or Reality? Robert Golob, Prime Minister of Slovenia; Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement; Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia; Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania; Milojko Spajić, Prime Minister of Montenegro; Moderated by Nathalie Tocci, Director, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Italy

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Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement

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Robert Golob, Prime Minister of Slovenia; Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia; Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement;

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Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia

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Gordan Grlić-Radman, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia

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Panel: Europe Secure and Free Elmar Brok, Former Member of the European Parliament; Senior Advisor at the Munich Security Conference, Germany; Kęstutis Budrys, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania; Alper Coşkun, Senior fellow within the Europe Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, United States; Boštjan Pavlin, State Secretary, Ministry of Defence of Slovenia; Moderated by Valbona Zeneli, Non-resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council of the United States

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Elmar Brok, Former Member of the European Parliament; Senior Advisor at the Munich Security Conference, Germany

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This year, questions concerning the future of Europe and the European Union were at the heart of the international exchange. It became clear that the framework conditions of European security and the EU’s potential enlargement to include the six Western Balkan states noticeably influenced the participants’ mood. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković expressed skepticism about EU enlargement by 2030. He warned of political and security challenges in the candidate countries, stressing that North Macedonia was blocked, Serbia was facing severe unrest and was “on the brink of civil war,” while Bosnia and Herzegovina was exposed to constant secession threats. Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob also voiced doubts about EU enlargement by 2030. He previously told Slovenian television that only the prime ministers of Albania and Montenegro had been deliberately invited to the Bled Forum in order to send the message that accession would initially be possible only for those seriously committed to implementing reforms. Plenković recalled that the ten wealthiest member states finance 80 percent of the EU budget and stressed that there would be no enlargement without meeting the required criteria and a favorable political momentum. He called for “sobriety” in the debates on the future of the EU and warned against the growing influence of third actors in the Western Balkan countries. The guest of honor of KAS Croatia-Slovenia at this year’s BSF, long-serving German Member of the European Parliament Elmar Brok (CDU), urged the EU member states to act jointly and speak with one voice on key future issues such as security policy, rather than placing national sensitivities at the forefront. The “Bled Promise” refers to the agreement reached at the 2023 Forum, according to which the EU and the Western Balkan states should be ready for enlargement by 2030. The Forum was jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, the Centre for European Perspective (CEP), and other partners.