The meeting his hosted by foreign minister Karel Erjavec and French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who is on a working visit to Slovenia. The main topic of the meeting is improving the perspectives of the young from the Western Balkans. It's expected that the meeting will also touch on the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean. The issue will also be discussed at an EU summit today in Brussels. Meanwhile the Western Balkans are clearly once again the target of the interests of great powers.

A key to the development of the region is creating better prospects for the young, who are otherwise forced to look for better opportunities elsewhere. But we should not overlook the fact that discussing this important topic only serves as a cause for debating other issues, rather than reaching certain goals. The region is more interested with the situation in its neighbourhood, like for example the Ukraine crisis, which plays the role of a reef on which EU's relations with Russia are pounded on. The Balkans specifically are pre-occupied with their own destiny, to which we can't close our eyes: the above-mentioned Russia is successfully returning to the region. The collapse of the South Stream gas pipeline hasn't shaken its position with its traditional allies, as it successfully continues its dialogue on energy issues with Turkey.