The presidents of 14 Central and South- Eastern European countries meeting in the Serbian town of Novi Sad today said the future of the entire region lay in membership in the European Union, according to dpa. The two-day summit of heads of state from the region began on Thursday under the slogan "Overcoming the challenges: the economy, energy, European integrations" while the working meetings began Friday. Opening the summit, Serbian President Boris Tadic as host said the Balkan's integration into the EU was in Europe's interest and that visa free travel, as agreed earlier by the EU ministers in Brussels, was the clearest sign that these countries were welcome in the EU. Czech President Vaclav Klaus, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, said he looked forward to the EU integration of the Balkans and said he hoped that the forthcoming Swedish presidency would make progress on the issue. His comments were supported by Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. The summit in Novi Sad was not attended by German President Horst Koehler and Albanian President Bamir Topi, while Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu was not invited. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February last year. Serbia opposes the move, despite Kosovo's recognition by a majority of EU states as well as the United States. The next summit will take place in Poland in 2010.
