RACAN: MOTION ON EU & WESTERN BALKANS SUMMIT NEEDS TO BE MORE CONCRETE

ZAGREB, July 11 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan on Tuesday said he expected the idea on the summit of the European Union and countries of the western Balkans to be more concrete, therefore Croatia's standpoint on the issue would be more clear. The European Union Council of Ministers in Brussels on Monday endorsed France's initiative that the summit of the European Union and countries of the western Balkans be held in Croatia this autumn. Who is to participate in the summit has not yet been established. "In the upcoming days in Zagreb we are to discuss the idea with French representatives", said Racan after talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov. France's presiding of the European Union proposed the holding of the European Union and the western Balkans summit, which would be attended by representatives of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and the Serbian Opposition, while the participation of Slovenia is still open. At a ministerial meeting held in Brussels Monday, foreign ministers of Great Britain, the Netherlands and Austria motioned that other candidate-countries be invited to join the European Union, namely Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. "We believe that talks on security and open issues in the region demand the participation of all countries which could contribute to such talks, and those countries are not only former Yugoslav countries, but other countries from southeast Europe as well", said Racan. (hina) it jn