EU OFFICIAL: THERE ARE NO CANDIDATES FOR EU MEMBERSHIP IN WESTERN BALKANS

SARAJEVO, May 13 (Hina) - None of the western Balkan states that are included in the Stabilisation and Association Process is ready to join the European Union, EU's External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said. #L# In an interview published on Monday by the Banja Luka-based "Nezavisne novine", Patten said that all former Yugoslav states stood a chance of joining the EU one day. He said that Slovenia, which has been negotiating admission, had made the most progress, and advised other interested candidates to make the best of the Stabilisation and Association Process. Since the start of the Process in 1999, several countries have made significant progress, Patten said, adding that this referred to Croatia and Macedonia, which signed Stabilisation and Association Agreements (SAA), and Albania, which should soon start talks with the EU. Commenting on the current status of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the EU official recalled that current candidates from Central and East Europe, which at the beginning had been in a much better position than Bosnia was today, needed more than a decade to adjust to EU standards. Bosnia-Herzegovina is still expected to meet 18 conditions from so- called EU guidelines, and talks on further rapprochement could be expected only several years after that, Patten explained. (hina) rml