When it comes to the main challenge for southeastern European aspirants for the EU membership, they should maintain the momentum in reforms and assure their public that reforms are important not only for the sake of the EU membership but also for the sake of the modernisation and development of those countries, Leigh said in Dubrovnik during the fifth Croatia Summit in Dubrovnik on Saturday.
Hannes Swoboda, the European Parliament rapporteur for Croatia, admitted that there was certain fatigue in the EU with the expansion but that this must not affect Croatia.
I hope that Croatia would become a member in the EU as soon as possible and that the accession treaty would be signed during the Hungarian presidency of the Union, Swoboda said.
Hungary will chair the EU in the first half of 2011.
This will not be the end of the journey but the opening of doors for integration of other countries, Swoboda said.
Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic spoke about his vision of Southeast Europe as a region of cooperation and understanding, integrated into the EU and NATO.
This is a picture we would like to paint, he said expressing hope that 2010 would be a successful year for Croatia and that it would sing the EU accession treaty in the first half of 2011.