On the second day, EU foreign ministers turned their eyes to their doorsteps – the Western Balkan region, aiming to bring countries there closer to the EU membership.
"This year can be a decisive year for the Western Balkans ... I' m very convinced we can accelerate the process of European integration this year," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.
Rupel, who chaired the two-day informal EU meeting, said the ministers had sought to give a fresh impetus to the Thessaloniki agenda, a strategy giving a European perspective to the Western Balkans, including Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
However, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic chose to hold a separate meeting with EU foreign ministers, instead of joining other Western Balkan courtiers later Saturday since Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was also present.
Serbia's future in the EU has been clouded by the self-declared independence of Kosovo and its cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
Jeremic on Saturday reaffirmed that Belgrade remains committed to the path of integration into the EU, but not at the price of Kosovo.
During their two-day meeting, EU foreign ministers also rejected the call for a boycott of the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games over the Tibet issue.
"We are separating the issue of human rights dialogue, intercultural dialogue and so on from events like Olympic Games and participation in those," Rupel said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2008)
