The Zagreb meeting was yet another opportunity for the European Liberals to emphasise their strong support for Croatia's EU entry and for all Croatian institutions and political factors involved in the preparation of the country for full membership of the EU, Neyts-Uyttebroeck said at a press conference.
At the same time we believe that the EU must use the remaining time before Croatia's entry to reform its own institutions. This has to be done, but should in no way be used as a pretext for stalling or delaying Croatia's entry, the ELDR leader said.
This has to be done in parallel, because it's completely feasible. This is more about political will than about the shortage of time, she added.
Neyts-Uyttebroeck said that the European Liberals had never advocated a moratorium on EU enlargement.
We also believe that the EU must keep its promises that it will keep its door open to the other Western Balkan countries and give them the possibility of membership when they are ready for it, regardless of how long this may take, the Belgian politician said.
One of the topics discussed at the meeting was the future status of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo.
Representatives of the Liberals from Serbia and from among Kosovo's Albanians and Serbs were here and we managed to reach a broad consensus on the issue, which is no small matter, Neyts-Uyttebroeck said, adding that European Liberals would continue helping their colleagues in Serbia and Kosovo.
The president of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) and one of the vice-presidents of the ELDR, Vesna Pusic, said that the meeting had shown that there was a political leadership and a readiness to achieve the goal of transforming the countries in the region into modern liberal democracies.