High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/ Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, was in North Macedonia on Monday before travelling to Albania on Tuesday and to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday. His visit reaffirms the EU’s commitment and support for the region, particularly in light of the Russian war against Ukraine and its impact on the security of Europe as a whole.

HR/VP Borrell met in Skopje with President Stevo Pendarovski and Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski, Deputy Prime Minister of European Affairs, Bojan Marichijk, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bujar Osmani, and Minister of Defence, Slavjanka Petrovska. On Tuesday, the High Representative will travel to Tirana, where he will meet with Prime Minister Edi Rama and  other representatives of the Albanian authorities and civil society representatives and visit the ongoing restoration works at the mosaic of the National History Museum, renovated under the EU’s post-earthquake recovery assistance.

On Wednesday, the HR/VP will be in Sarajevo where he will first pay a visit to the EUFOR Althea Operation whose troops’ capacity on the ground has been almost doubled recently. He will then meet with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s authorities, representatives of political opposition and civil society.