EU doors "open to all Western Balkan states"

EU doors "open to all Western Balkan states"

VIENNA -- Austria's FM Sebastian Kurz has said that 100 years since the beginning of the First World War "we must work together to create a common European future."

The EU enlargement is of great importance not only to countries that aspire to become EU members, but also to its member-states, he was quoted as saying.

At a press conference held on the occasion of the Conference on the Western Balkans in the 1914-2014 context, organized in Vienna by the Central European Initiative (CEI), Kurz said that one hundred years ago, the geographical map had been changed on battlefields, and now we were working together to create a common European future at a conference table.

The conference "has clear goals, which is to encourage the European perspective of the Western Balkans with a desire to send a clear signal towards awarding a candidate status to Albania and to consider opportunities for the EU member states to assist Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia in the reconstruction after the devastating floods."

The European perspective is no gift at all, but rather something that is in the interest of the member countries of the Union, and therefore also Austria and its economy, said Kurz.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said that the EU found political dialogue vital, pointing to the dialogue between Belgrade and Priština as a successful example.

He also expressed the hope that Albania would become an EU membership candidate very soon, Tanjug reported.

"The European Union's doors are open to all Western Balkan states, but that it's up to the regional political leaders to perform the necessary reforms," he said, describing the EU, "with 28...