BRDO-BRIJUNI PROCESS


                          MEETING OF THE LEADERS OF THE BRDO BRIJUNI

                                  PROCESS PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES





The Brdo-Brijuni Process was held for the first time in 2013 at the initiative of the Presidents of the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia. The initiative was named "Brdo-Brijuni Process" because of the shared idea of both Presidents for its organization: Brdo deriving from Brdo pri Kranju, where the first meeting of regional leaders was held; and Brijuni, in honor of the co-organizer and partner in the making of this initiative, the Republic of Croatia.

The main aim of the initiators of the Brdo–Brijuni Process, the Presidents of the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia, is European integration of the countries in the region and stabilization of the situation in the Western Balkans through strengthening regional cooperation and overcoming outstanding issues.

The process of EU integration of the entire region is gaining a different, new dimension. The Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia are both fully fledged member states of the EU; the Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Albania, Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia are candidate countries for EU membership, whereas Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Kosovo are potential candidates for EU membership. The integration process of every country has its own specific dynamics. Ever since the Republic of Croatia also became a fully fledged EU Member State, the two Member States from the region made an initiative to facilitate the exchange of experiences and practices from their EU integration, sharing them with other countries which, on the other hand, gained a new forum for communication among their Heads of State, which was accepted as exceptionally positive. Opening the issue of EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans, i.e. integration of the entire region, has been high on the agenda of the leaders of the countries in the region.

Having in mind European integration, the leaders of the Brdo–Brijuni Process countries have recognized the need for a new initiative that would take the place of the long-standing regional initiatives that function mostly on the principle of declarations, with no visible measures and activities. the other regional activities and mechanisms became too declarative and fail to deliver results. In this sense, the Brdo-Brijuni Process played an important role by filling in the vacuum, substituting the lack of ideas by other regional initiatives and introducing a breath of fresh air and new ideas bearing visible political results, complemented further on by practical results from the Western Balkan Summits within the Berlin and the subsequent Vienna, Paris and Rome processes. What is especially worth emphasizing is the commitment for achieving open and constructive dialogue among all the countries from the region, that took the Brdo-Brijuni Process at the next, higher level, by overcoming the established principle of declarative functioning of all other regional initiatives and bringing concrete actions, measures and steps.

The leaders of the countries from the region recognized the need for a regular and continuous dialogue, the need to strengthen and incite political dialogue, as well as the need to create the necessary conditions and motivate readiness to resolve open bilateral challenges as well as tackling the regional ones.

The Brdo–Brijuni Process is the most prestigious initiative delivering political results and motivating political dialogue among the countries of the region having outstanding issues. With the intention of opening the space for an unburdened and constructive political dialogue among the leaders, a decision was made to hold the Brdo-Brijuni Process Meetings in Gymnich format.

Special credibility to the process, which has been reaffirmed through the follow up initiative of several EU countries, is the organization of the Berlin and subsequent processes that add to the political results of the Brdo-Brijuni process with their own visible and concrete results.

The following Brdo-Brijuni Process meeting in the Republic of Macedonia confirms our belief that the initiative is moving in the right direction and provides specific and visible results, overcoming the open bilateral issues, but also tackling the challenges of the region as a whole.