FM: Zagreb summit to confirm European perspective of Western Balkans

On the initiative of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the summit of the 27 EU member states and the six Western Balkan countries, scheduled for May 6, will be held online in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Cooperation in dealing with the pandemic, giving the Western Balkan countries the European perspective and these countries' commitment to European values" are the key elements of the Zagreb Declaration, Grlic Radman told the press outside the government offices.

He recalled that North Macedonia and Albania had been given the green light on their path to EU membership which he said was "a great Croatian success".

Zagreb will again host a summit on the European perspective of Southeast Europe, just as it did 20 years ago when Croatia was not yet a member of the EU. The next summit was held in Thessaloniki in 2003 and the last one took place two years ago in Sofia.

The Croatian EU Presidency has proposed that summits on European integration be held every two years, Grlic Radman said.

"Not all EU members are equally interested in enlargement. There is still talk of what the future will bring with new members, but Croatia has shown the initiative in this regard," he said.