DW: Macedonia Summit: EU Hopefuls Say Europe Needs the Balkans, Turkey
Macedonia Summit: EU Hopefuls Say Europe Needs the Balkans, Turkey
Balkan nations and Turkey are integral to European stability and should be swiftly accepted into the European Union, regional leaders said at a summit in Macedonia. The European Union would benefit from allowing the Balkans and Turkey to quickly join the bloc, the leaders of 19 mainly central and southern European countries said at a summit in Ohrid, Macedonia on Friday, May 2. Integrating the countries into the EU would stabilize south-eastern Europe, particularly in the wake of Kosovo's independence, they said. "Europe can't be whole without expanding to the western Balkans," Albanian President Bamir Topi said during the meeting's first joint session. The annual two-day summit was focused on the prospect of EU membership.
