German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Parliament Speaker Hans-Gert Poettering said that the southeast of Europe was at a cross-roads with one of the roads leading towards EU membership and the other pushing the region back into instability, isolation and possible unrest.
Merkel said that the arrival of the highest EU officials at the Zagreb summit could be interpreted as backing for Croatia as well as as a sign of encouragement to Zagreb to continue its efforts on the road to the EU.
Barroso said that Kosovo was the last unresolved issue of the region's tragic past.
Both Barosso and Merkel expressed support for the blueprint prepared by the UN Special Envoy to Kosovo, Marti Ahtisaari, for the final status of this UN-administered province.
The EU officials were also monitoring the latest developments in Serbia and were expecting the establishment of a democratic government in Serbia that would not push the country back into the past.
If Serbia has enough strength to confirm its European aspirations, we will help it in every respect, Barroso said.
The US Under-Secretary for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns told the summit that the United States strongly supports independence for Kosovo.
Burns, among other things, said that Croatia was a great friend of the United States and conveyed greetings from President George W. Bush who congratulated Croatia on its progress on the road towards Euro-Atlantic institutions.
The speech by Albanian President Sali Berisha, who said that "the concept of a greater Serbia still exists" in Serbia, prompted strong reactions from the Serbian delegation.
"I strongly dismiss the allegations about a greater Serbia as you should not forget that Kosovo is a part of Serbia," said the Serbian minister for international economic cooperation, Milan Parivodic. He rejected solutions that would produce "arrogant victors and humiliated losers," saying that the Serbian government was in favour of solutions based on real life and on the human rights situation in the volatile Serbian province.
Parivodic said that statements made by Serbian Radical Party leader Tomislav Nikolic were "isolated voices."
Croatia took over the chairmanship of the SEECP at a summit in Thessaloniki in 2006, and is now to be succeeded by Bulgaria.