EU Needs Western Balkans, Summit Leaders Say

A summit of regional leaders on Monday in Montenegro heard that the EU project is incomplete without the Western Balkans.

The EU accession process is not a technical but a political issue in which the specificities of each country must also be taken into account, it was further concluded.

The third meeting of Southeast European leaders as part of the Brdo-Brijuni Process began on Monday in the Montenegrin resort of Budva.

The Slovenian and Croatian Presidents, Borut Pahor and Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, as co-chairpersons, as well as Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic, hosted Presidents Gjorge Ivanov of Macedonia, Tomislav Nikolic of Serbia, Bujar Nishani of Albania, Atifete Jahjaga of Kosovo and Mladen Ivanic - the chair of Bosnia's three-member state presidency

The two-day summit is focusing on EU enlargement, the overall situation in the region, particularly in troubled Macedonia, and on economic topics.

"The message of the meeting was repeated once again that the great idea of EU enlargement is not complete until the countries of Southeast Europe have become members," Austrian President Heinz Fisher, who also attended the summit, said.

Montenegro's President, Vujanovic, said regional leaders had accepted the initiative of the Slovenian and Croatian Presidents to sent a letter to the President of the EU Council, Donald Tusk, proposing a conference on the Western Balkans, aiming at analyzing the accession process and encourage EU enlargement.

Croatia's Grabar Kitanovic noted that that some bilateral issues in the region remain open and needed to be addressed as soon as possible, however.

The summit was an opportunity for the first meeting between Grabar-Kitarovic and Nikolic of Serbia to take...