Bled Strategic Forum opens as Janša backs EU enlargement

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša opened the 21st Bled Strategic Forum by presenting four tests he said will determine Europe’s future role: security, resilience, demographics and credibility.

He used the forum to press the European Union to continue expanding into the Western Balkans. The bloc, he said, must meet its obligations to candidate countries. “If the European Union does not expand, someone else will, at our expense,” Janša warned.

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If the European Union does not expand, someone else will, at our expense.

Ukraine featured prominently in his appeal for a stronger European security policy. Janša said peace could not be taken for granted and had to be protected. “Ukraine reminds us what is at stake. Ukrainians are defending not only their territory, but also the principle that borders cannot be changed by force and that nations have the right to choose their future,” he said. He added that a just peace must preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty and European future, warning that rewarding aggression would create a dangerous precedent elsewhere.

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Ukraine reminds us what is at stake. Ukrainians are defending not only their territory, but also the principle that borders cannot be changed by force and that nations have the right to choose their future.

Janša argued that a stronger Europe should reinforce, rather than replace, the transatlantic partnership. He also called for less dependence on outside powers, citing Europe’s prewar reliance on Russian energy and its continuing dependence on China for heavy rare-earth elements, semiconductors, critical minerals and strategic supply chains. Europe, he said, should build reliable partnerships, diversify supply routes and strengthen its own industrial and defence capacity.

He linked Europe’s demographic pressures to low birth rates and an ageing population. Janša said illegal migration could not substitute for demographic policy and called for secure borders and legal, selective migration tailored to economic needs. Credibility, he added, gives small countries international influence when they form alliances, act as reliable partners and keep their promises. Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon also addressed the opening, while discussions focused on European and Western Balkan security and wider geopolitical conditions.

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Efficiency without resilience can create dependence. And someone can turn dependence into leverage.