STA, 16 December 2018 - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar called for more involvement by the US in Europe in an interview he gave for the Washington Post while visiting the US last week. Unless the US "make its leadership more visible in Europe" it risks being eclipsed by China and Russia, the paper said on Saturday.
"It's not enough to have good economic cooperation," Cerar was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.
"I tell you, the Chinese come to Europe. As prime minister, I met five times with the Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in order to discuss political relations and business."
"So I think it would be very good if our friends and allies in the US would be more present in the region," Cerar said.
Related: Cerar – EU could lose Balkans to Russia, Turkey and China
China offers to build infrastructure quickly with cheap money that leaves the country in debt but is too alluring to turn down, he also said.
He predicts many countries in the Balkans and Eastern Europe will gravitate to Beijing and Moscow politically as well as economically. "If Russian or Chinese interests prevail, we will lose the region," he said.
