Summit to promote EU integration of the WBC

Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Žbogar said at a meeting of the Slovenian foreign policy parliamentary committee that the conference will "send new winds from the region to the EU," and that the goal of the conference is for leaders of the Western Balkans to meet for the first time and send a message to the EU, the most important being that the countries of the region are capable of gathering and negotiating their European future."

He said that the message of the conference should be that these countries are ready to reconnect the region and that their leaders believe in a European future, for which they are ready to implement reforms, adding that the reaction of the international community to the conference has been positive.

EU Enlargement Commissioner visits Balkans

Štefan FÜLE , European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy is paying an official visit to the Western Balkans region this week (March 17 to 19), visiting Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Albania.

Before his departure Commissioner Füle stated: ''I want to firmly anchor the Western Balkans region in the European perspective. But each country will be judged on its own merits, according to the membership criteria. I will discuss with my interlocutors in these countries which are the best ways in which the European Commission can support the realisation of their European aspiration''.

Sources: http://waz.euobserver.com/887/29688, http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=03&dd=17&nav_id=65856, and http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/289&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en, as accessed on March 18, 2010.