Senior European, Balkan Leaders Gather in Sarajevo

The high-level meeting, which is also to be attended by representatives from the United States, Russia, Turkey and NATO, comes at a time when most Western Balkan countries fear that the Greek debt crisis might hinder their hopes to join the EU.

There was some controversy in the lead up to today's gathering, with discussion over how countries would be represented in an effort to ensure that both Serbia and Kosovo would agree to participate. Serbia has previously refused to attend gatherings where Kosovo was presented as an independent state.

In the end, agreement was apparently reached to hold the meeting in the Gymnich format, under which no state names or symbols are used, but rather the names of the delegates themselves.

While both the Serbian and Kosovo foreign ministers are in attendance, it remains unclear if Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic will leave the room when his Kosovo counterpart gets up to speak.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, whose country holds the rotating EU Presidency and is organising the summit, told reporters this morning that the main message of the meeting was that there is a “very good future for the whole region, a European future and a commitment of the international community to support all Western Balkans to join the EU”.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that he expected a “very ambitious commitment to be taken by the EU, together with the US and Russia”.
 
“I would expect Europe not be shy in reaffirming its commitment. If member states are reluctant it is up to European institutions to do their part,” Frattini said as he arrived for the meeting at the Bosnian parliament building.

Meanwhile Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said that he was “encouraged by the new speed of regional harmony, the cooperation that we have seen in the last few months”.

“I think that will possibly have an effect on European integration….I believe it will take two years to move all the [Western Balkan] countries into the formal accession process”.

The EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said ahead of the meeting that the integration of the Western Balkans “remains one of the last challenges to building a democratic and unified Europe.”

“In Sarajevo, the EU will reaffirm the Balkans’ place in Europe and the European perspective for the region,” she added.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele described the Sarajevo conference as a “timely confirmation of... the continuation of the enlargement process”.

Fuele added that enlargement was “based on strong conditionalities”, but stressed that it was “first of all a political project”.

The Sarajevo meeting, organised by the Spanish EU presidency, will mark the tenth anniversary of a similar gathering in Zagreb, Croatia, when the EU launched the process to stabilize and integrate the Western Balkans.

In Sarajevo, the EU and the countries of the region are expected to welcome the progress made in the past decade, but also to discuss remaining challenges, which include the need to strengthen the rule of law and to improve the fight against corruption and crime in the Balkans.

Focus will also be on increasing cooperation and achieving lasting reconciliation in the region. Western Balkan countries recently started taking significant steps to overcome their past divisions.

Last weekend leaders of Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro adopted a joint declaration in Sarajevo pledging to push each other on the path to the EU and urging European countries not to allow the enlargement process to be put on hold due to the ongoing financial crisis.

The declaration was signed by the chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency and the presidents of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro – Haris Silajdzic, Ivo Josipovic, Boris Tadic and Filip Vujanovic, respectively.