The Western Balkan region will face a certain delay in the EU accession process post-Brexit because a number of institutions that would have dealt with it will now have to deal with other matters, Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretary General Goran Svilanović said Wednesday.

 “That is the reality,” Svilanović told a Tanjug reporter when asked to comment on the consequences of the UK’s departure from the EU and whether Western Balkan countries could jointly mitigate the fallout from the British EU referendum. It will take some time to see how the referendum decision will be implemented within British society, Svilanović said.

“My impression is that both the UK and the EU have emerged smaller from the referendum and that, for this reason, implementing the decision within British society, as well as between British society and the EU, will require a lengthy process,” Svilanović said in Sarajevo. He announced that the RCC would in September or October invite ministers from Western Balkan countries to Brussels to formulate a clear appeal to EU partners about the need to continue the accession process.