At the Tirana Connectivity Forum 2025, defense and foreign policy leaders from Southeast Europe delivered a unified message: the region is already a security provider to Europe’s southern flank. Moving beyond rhetoric, the discussion provided a realistic assessment of security and defense factors in the region, highlighted concrete cooperation initiatives covering infrastructure, military cooperation and defense industries. Panelists and discussants underlined the need for the European Union to concretely support candidate countries and NATO members in their defence endeavors.
The Bulgarian Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov, stressed that the security of Southeast Europe is key for the overall security of Europe, and that deeper cooperation in the region will ensure a more effective EU response to threats at both the regional and global level. Maintaining “positive, growing, and successful cooperation with the countries of the region,” he noted, is also crucial for NATO’s deterrence and defense. Bulgaria, he emphasized, has consistently contributed to strengthening stability in the Western Balkans through its support for NATO and EU missions and operations, and remains firmly committed to the Euro-Atlantic perspective of its neighbors.
Albania’s Minister of Defense, Pirro Vengu, detailed the country’s strategy to reverse decades of industrial disinvestment in defense. Through new joint ventures in armored vehicle or ammunition production, Albania is not just rebuilding its capacity but actively seeking to contribute to the NATO industrial base. Minister Vengu emphasized that key to attracting is for the governments to have “skin in the game.” This pragmatic approach is mirrored in infrastructure, as Albania is investing over €400 million in the Port of Durrës and rail links for the Corridor VIII. He called for a more pragmatic NATO-EU approach where such national investments are met with tailored funding and political support.
North Macedonia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Zoran Dimitrovski, reframed the very language of the debate, arguing that the term “Southeast Europe Six” should replace the ubiquitous “Western Balkans” to affirm region’s European place. His central argument was unequivocal: the ultimate security guarantee for the region is EU membership. While highlighting North Macedonia’s major investments in Corridors VIII and X, he stressed that all connectivity and defense efforts are incomplete without the political finality of the EU accession. “Don’t leave Southeast Europe as an open wound,” he urged, warning that without a geopolitical decision for enlargement, the region risks remaining a “black hole” in the continent’s architecture.
Hungary’s Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Zsolt Bunford, reinforced this view from an EU member state’s perspective, stating plainly that “Europe cannot be complete without the Western Balkans.” He extended the security concept by arguing the SEE6 are already indispensable frontline contributors in managing migration, energy security and supply chain resilience. Therefore, he asserted, EU defense instruments like SAFE must be opened to candidate countries, as European security is indivisible.
Ivica Bocevski, former Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia, called for immediate accession as the most effective security strategy for the whole Europe. He warned that delaying integration perpetuates instability and disillusionment, while stressing that connectivity projects like Corridor VIII should be funded as both military indispensable artery and economic lifeline.
The panel concluded that defense connectivity is built upon – and at the same time contributes to – trust. The SEE6 countries are already contributing to Europe’s security —through troops in multinational battlegroups; by hosting critical missions, and aligning their security policies. The message is clear: the region is prepared to carry its share of the burden. What it needs is a reciprocal commitment that treats region’s future in the EU not as a distant possibility, but as the most urgent and logical step for a secure Europe.
