Pellegrini Discusses EU Enlargement and Ukraine with Other Presidents in Krakow

Krakow, October 11 (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini held talks with ten other presidents of European Union countries within the Arraiolos group in Krakow, Poland, on Friday, with the presidents agreeing on the need to enlarge the Union, help Ukraine and end the war. According to Pellegrini, the group is able to debate matters with respect and understanding, and he believes such dialogue is increasingly rare among politicians in today's world. "We all have a responsibility for our future, and none of our countries is an isolated island on its own. Cooperation is and will be our strongest tool in the current geopolitical climate," Pellgrini remarked. The presidents agreed on enlarging the European Union to include other states, namely Ukraine and Moldova, and the Balkan countries. "Enlargement of the European Union is a very important item on everyone's agenda because it's an opportunity to strengthen European security and guarantee further economic development, but enlargement should not be an automatic trigger. Candidate countries have a lot of work to do, including many painful, fundamental reforms," said the Slovak president. Regarding energy security, Pellegrini noted that countries must continue to diversify their supply chains and build interconnections between energy networks. He also called for the development and renewal of the scale of industry, especially in defence. Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar declared that Slovenia will continue to assist Ukraine. She also pointed to transatlantic relations between the EU and the USA. In her opinion, it isn't important who wins the upcoming presidential elections in the USA, as Europe will have to talk to any winner. "The transatlantic partnership has a special role to play. It's crucial for European security. Transatlantic ties with the United States are part of a long-term security policy regardless of who wins the election," said Pellegrini in this vein. The meeting on Friday took place at Wawel Castle, the historic seat of Polish kings. This year's summit was hosted by Polish President Andrzej Duda. The presidents of Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia were at the same negotiating table. The topics of the meeting were related to the priorities of the Polish presidency of the EU in the first half of 2025. The Arraiolos Group is an informal political forum of the presidents of some of the EU-member countries. It takes its name from the Portuguese town of Arraiolos, where the first meeting took place in 2003. Slovakia was represented for the first time at a meeting of the group by former president Zuzana Caputova in 2022. zel/df