Zagreb, 25 November 2021 (Hina/MIA) — French President Emmanuel Macron said in Zagreb on Thursday that his country was committed to working on peace and stability of the Western Balkan region. "The French vision is to build an area of peace, stability and cooperation and to strengthen the flow of people. We want to make that area (the Western Balkans) a genuine European region," Macron told a news conference which he held together with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in Zagreb. Macron also warned about external forces that "are destabilizing the region and creating divisions," alluding to Russia and China. He added that Croatia would be a partner of France in those transformative efforts for Southeast Europe. Macron and Plenković discussed the necessary amending of the election law in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria's blockade of North Macedonia's EU journey, tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, with the French head of state saying that Paris and Zagreb would take concerted actions to address those issues. France is perceived as a strong opponent of the European Union's enlargement. However, Macron said in Zagreb that when it came to the Western Balkans "we did not say that we were against it." "We simply wanted to halt a bureaucratic situation, and we wanted to say that problems should be solved. During Croatia's chairmanship (of the European Union in the first half of 2020) we transformed it to a more a political process," the French president said. After his meeting with President Zoran Milanović on Thursday morning, Macron said he was proud of being the first French president to visit Croatia since the country gained independence. He said it was unfair that no French president had officially visited Croatia before. A former French president, the deceased Jacques Chirac, was in Zagreb 21 years ago to attend a European Union summit in the Croatian capital city, but this was a multilateral visit. Macron wraps up his visit to Croatia with a lunch bringing together distinguished people from Croatia's political, business, sports and cultural life. He flies to Italy after the luncheon.