Thursday

28th Mar 2024

South Eastern states in EU by 2014, says Schüssel

The Austrian chancellor has said that it could be possible for the South Eastern European countries to the join the EU by 2014.

Speaking after a meeting with South Eastern leaders on Wednesday, Wolfgang Schüssel said that the "biggest success is that region is out of the headlines", according to Austrian newspapers.

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Erhard Busek, the special coordinator of the Stability Pact for the region said "the priority of EU enlargement is southeastern Europe, there is no other direction".

The meeting was attended by leaders from Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro and Romania.

Both Romania and Bulgaria are set to join the EU in 2007.

The region has also been told directly by Brussels that EU membership is a definite prospect.

"The process of European unification will not be completed unless the countries of the Western Balkans become members of the European Union", said European Commission President Romano Prodi last year.

The countries of the Western Balkans are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro.

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Difficult talks ahead on financing new EU defence spending

With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending any time soon, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss how to boost the defence capabilities of Ukraine and of the bloc itself.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

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