"We are here. We are standing by you. We are not focused only on our public health situation, our own economic and social recovery after the crisis that hit all of us, this is the main message to Southeast European countries," said the prime minister of the country which is currently presiding over the Council of the European Union.
The virtual summit was held instead of the real one which was scheduled to be held in Zagreb on May 6 and 7.
The Zagreb Declaration was adopted by the 27 EU member states and Macedonian Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, the chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina collective presidency Sefik Dzaferovic, Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo President Hashim Thaci.
Nowhere in the Declaration is the word "enlargement" specified, however PM Plenkovic claims that "this in fact was the enlargement summit, notably in light of a political decision of two months ago to open EU entry talks with another two countries, two are already negotiating and two would like to open entry talks in the future,"
"There are some countries that are not down with that word (enlargement) for several reasons, but facts are facts," Plenkovic said.
The EU has been holding entry talks for years already with Serbia and Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania have been given a green light to launch the negotiations recently, but they have not been given a concrete date.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a potential EU candidate and Kosovo, apart from not being recognised by five EU members, still needs visas to enter the EU.