The declaration was signed at the end of a two-day meeting by representatives from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and Macedonia. Albania adopted it in principle, but its representatives did not attend due to elections in the country.
The document underlines the commitment to full EU membership and the continuation of the association process in parallel with the solving of the current problems surrounding the adoption of the EU Constitution.
Fatima Leho of the Bosnian Parliament said cooperation among regional parliaments was a task stemming from the EU summit in Thessaloniki in 2003.
The implementation of that goal began with this meeting in Sarajevo, which also adopted the rules of procedure of the conference of parliaments of countries in the Stabilisation and Association process (SAp).
Bosnia will chair the conference over the next six months, during which period the fundamental goal will be to secure for all access to EU preaccession funds which will be available within the EU budget for the period up to 2013.
The joint statement points to the possibility that SAp countries might suffer because of announcements that the EU's development funds would be limited.
Neven Mimica of Croatia said the citizens in every country of the region were committed to joining the EU as soon as possible and that it was very important for regional parliamentarians to meet, notably at present, when the Union is encountering internal problems. He added that these problems must not undermine the EU's existing decision to expand to Southeast Europe.
Mimica also said that meetings like this one must not be treated as the establishment of a regional package, but as impetus to every country to invest additional effort to meet EU membership criteria.