Grabar-Kitarovic said she preferred using the term 'consolidation' to the term 'enlargement' because the latter implied the territorial aspect of the EU's expansion while the EU needed consolidation regarding security, European values and reforms.
The Croatian president, who was a student of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna some 20 years ago, said that Europe had come to a standstill, with enlargement fatigue among EU members on one side and exhaustion by insistence on reforms and a loss of optimism among Southeast European countries on the other.
The crisis in Europe has shaken the very foundations of the Union, one of them being solidarity, she said in a comment on the refugee crisis and the problem of illegal immigration, expressing hope that the problem would be solved at an EU summit to be held at the end of the month.
Southeast European countries need a prospect of EU enlargement and NATO accession so as to prevent possible retrograde and anti-reform trends, she said.
Macedonia has been neglected for a long time and the situation in that country is very worrying, as is the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is perceived as a European problem rather than a European asset, she said.
Serbia's getting closer to the EU could positively affect the settlement of the country's outstanding issues with Croatia and Kosovo, Grabar-Kitarovic said, adding that Montenegro should be invited this year to join NATO as a message to all aspirants that reforms do pay.
The EU must send a strong message that it will not abandon those countries and they must implement reforms. If that does not happen, Europe will not be complete or consolidated and those countries will not be peaceful and stable, said Grabar-Kitarovic.