Foreign relations of Croatia

The EU will "hold out the prospect of membership" to "six Western Balkan countries," writes the Financial Times.

They are Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, but also the self-proclaimed state of Kosovo.

The Serbian government announced this, quoting Brnabic as saying that "the Balkans needs Europe, but that the Balkans is also needed by Europe."

Brnabic said that European integration of the countries of the Western Balkans is an important factor for the future of the region.

According to the draft European Commission strategy, 2025 as the year of the Western Balkan countries' admission to the EU is not any kind of "a fixed date."

Instead, writes Vienna's Presse newspaper, it represents "only the best case scenario."

The newspaper said it learned this from the European Commission.

Instead, writes Vienna's Presse newspaper, it represents "only the best case scenario."

The newspaper said it learned this from the European Commission.

The European Commission's goal, according to a draft to be presented on February 7, is to "increase reform pressure" on "countries like Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo".

The British House of Lords warns in a new report published on Wednesday that Western Balkan countries are increasingly turning towards authoritarianism, and that stability in the region is being undermined by outside countries like Russia.

The chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes court on Dec. 3 urged Croatian leaders to face up to what happened in the past and work towards reconciliation, after the suicide of a Bosnian Croat leader.

BELGRADE/VIENNA - Western Balkan countries need a new model of growth based on higher productivity and investments, higher exports and a higher share of the private sector in the economy, the World Bank said Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Stabilisation in the Western Balkans is key to economic development in the region, Serbian First Deputy PM and FM Ivica Dacic said in Washington on Wednesday.

On Friday, another round of expert consultations on the Balkans and the enlargement of the European Union took place in Brussels, a Russian diplomat said on Tuesday, quoted by BGNES. 

US Homeland Security Adviser Herbert McMaster has held a meeting with the foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.