{"id":14933,"date":"2026-04-23T07:34:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/athens-pushes-balkan-eu-path\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T07:34:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:34:30","slug":"athens-pushes-balkan-eu-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/athens-pushes-balkan-eu-path\/","title":{"rendered":"Athens pushes Balkan EU path"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-1301649\">\n    <!-- .entry-header --><\/p>\n<div class=\"first-img article_thumbnail_wrapper\" itemscope=\"\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n                                                                    <picture><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/foreign_ministry_web-thumb-large-320x200.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"600\" class=\"picture-main-block-image\" data-nxsrc=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/foreign_ministry_web-thumb-large.jpg\" alt=\"Athens pushes Balkan EU path\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/foreign_ministry_web-thumb-large.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                        <\/source><\/picture>\n<p>File photo.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Athens is seeking to sustain momentum for the European Union accession process of Western Balkan states through the Delphi Declaration, signed by Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis on the sidelines of the 11th Economic Forum held at the historic site with regional representatives.<\/p>\n<p>Signatories included Serbia\u2019s European Integration Minister Nemanja Starovic, Albania\u2019s Foreign Minister Ferit Hoxha, Kosovo\u2019s Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca, North Macedonia Deputy Foreign Minister Zoran Dimitrovski, Montenegro Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Ivanisevic, and Bosnia and Herzegovina\u2019s ambassador in Athens, Dragan Vukovic.<\/p>\n<p>The text repeatedly references the 2003 Thessaloniki Agenda, which successive Greek governments invoke to underline commitment to enlargement.<\/p>\n<p>The declaration is also an effort by Greece to project a leading role as fatigue in the region becomes increasingly visible. Western Balkan officials were notably cautious. Starovic suggested that a special relationship with Europe could suffice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ultimate goal is not so much our accession to the EU, but the economic and social cooperation we will have in the future with other EU countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Hoxha said Albania expects to resolve many outstanding issues in talks with the EU by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n<p>Dimitrovski expressed hope for a solution with Bulgaria similar to that resolving the name dispute with Greece. The cautious tone was expected, reflecting discouraging experiences of recent years.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n        var NXFBPixelFunc = function () {\n            document.removeEventListener(\"scroll\", NXFBPixelFunc);\n            setTimeout(function () {\n                !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n                    if (f.fbq) return;\n                    n = f.fbq = function () {\n                        n.callMethod ?\n                            n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments)\n                    };\n                    if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n                    n.push = n;\n                    n.loaded = !0;\n                    n.version = '2.0';\n                    n.queue = [];\n                    t = b.createElement(e);\n                    t.async = !0;\n                    t.src = v;\n                    s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n                    s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s)\n                }(window, document, 'script',\n                    'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n                fbq('init', '109138906120213');\n                fbq('track', 'PageView');\n            }, 0)\n        };\n        document.addEventListener(\"scroll\", NXFBPixelFunc);\n    <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/politics\/foreign-policy\/1301649\/athens-pushes-balkan-eu-path\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>File photo. Athens is seeking to sustain momentum for the European Union accession process of Western Balkan states through the Delphi Declaration, signed by Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis on the sidelines of the 11th Economic Forum held at the historic site with regional representatives. Signatories included Serbia\u2019s European Integration Minister Nemanja Starovic, Albania\u2019s Foreign Minister &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Athens pushes Balkan EU path\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/athens-pushes-balkan-eu-path\/#more-14933\" aria-label=\"Read more about Athens pushes Balkan EU path\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/foreign_ministry_web-thumb-large.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}