Subject: Hombach urges Balkans to unite with regional strategy
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 8:30:15 PDT
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Newsgroups: clari.world.europe.balkans,clari.world.europe,biz.clarinet.sample
Followup-To: biz.clarinet.sample


SKOPJE, Oct 25 (AFP) = The coordinator of the EU-backed Balkans
Stability Pact Bodo Hombach advised countries in the region
Wednesday to welcome Yugoslavia into the fold and to produce a plan
of regional action to demonstrate what the region could bring to the
European Union.
Heads of state from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia,
Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia were gathered here at a one-day
summit to address issues of peace and stability in the region, and a
plan to edge towards EU entry.
Of the Balkan states, only Greece is an EU member, while Romania
and Bulgaria, despite having started negotiations with the union,
are still seen as a long way off from joining.
Hombach advocated "closer cooperation in the fields of
dismantling trade barriers in South Eastern Europe, the common fight
against trans-border crime, increased military to military contacts,
benchmarking in democratic institution building and other fields you
may choose."
The countries should commit themselves to "quick and operational
results in regional cooperation which all countries can present to
the European Union as their contribution to European unity and to
their individual access to the European Union," Hombach told the
conference.
Following the replacement of former Yugoslav president Slobodan
Milosevic with Vojislav Kostunica, Yugoslavia will on Thursday
become a full member of the Stability Pact, a deal under which EU
and the Group of Eight most industrialised nations provide economic
support to countries in the Balkan region in exchange for desirable
democratic developments.
The return of Yugoslavia "means the return of good neighbourly
relations in the region," said Hombach.
Countries already in the negotiations with the EU have become
frustrated by the delay in naming an entry date, seeming to diminish
any foreseeable entry prospects for those outside the talks.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has however argued for the
process to be speeded up, and has emerged as an advocate of clear
moves to bring the Balkans into the fold.