Meeting | News Releases | Heads of State Comment 9th Central European Summit

Heads of State Comment 9th Central European Summit

Brdo pri Kranju, 1 June

The 9th summit of Central European heads of state - which gathered 16 presidents in what is the largest multilateral event ever to be held in Slovenia - has been commented upon by several participants. The summit was hosted by Slovene President Milan Kucan on Friday and Saturday.

Austrian President Thomas Klestil welcomed the decision, which was confirmed at Brdo, that the next summit be held in the birthplace of the idea to stage such meetings, namely in the Austrian city of Salzburg. He said he expected at least 16 heads of state in Salzburg. Klestil thought that the question of why Albania was not invited to the Central European summits was justifiably posed, and added that Albania's participation should be considered. Asked by STA whether he discussed the disputed Benes decrees with his Czech counterpart Vaclav Havel, Klestil pointed out that the pair would meet in September, and in the meantime they would seek to find common solutions to open issues in Austrian-Czech relations. The N- plant Temelin is also expected to be on the agenda of the September meeting.

Czech President Vaclav Havel said that the Benes decrees were briefly touched on at the summit. Moreover, he stressed that history should be examined and lessons should be learnt from it. However, history cannot be a banner used in political games, he said. He welcomed the establishment of the NATO-Russia cooperation council, labelling it a good, meaningful agreement, which should prove advantageous for both sides. It now remains to be seen how it develops, he added.

Hungary's President Ferenc Madl pointed to the need for proper and accurate information about EU candidate countries, as this would be the only way by which Brussels could take appropriate decisions to dispel the fear of EU enlargement shared by some of the EU citizens. Asked whether Bratislava was worried that EU enlargement might be delayed, Slovak

President Rudolf Schuster was confident that the best qualified candidates would complete accession negotiations by the end of this year and enlargement would go ahead according to plan. Schuster, moreover, stressed that the commitment made at the summit to help countries in SE Europe integrate into what he called a Euro-Atlantic family, should be kept. Jokingly, the Slovak president commented on the name of his country being often mistaken for Slovenia, saying that when he is being hailed as a politician from a successful Slovenia he would not immediately say that he is not a Slovene.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who thought that the summit was a success, said that such meetings are important. Taking a realistic look at EU enlargement, Kwasniewski is confident that enlargement would be carried out according to the schedule set during Sweden's stint at the top of the EU which anticipates the conclusion of accession negotiations by the end of 2002 and membership on 1 January 2004.

However, fears exist in Poland that enlargement could be postponed, fears which were also touched on by Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen. Yet, the Polish president understands that Verheugen is putting pressure on candidate countries, as this is his job. "However, Poland will carry out all of its tasks related to EU enlargement", he pointed out. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, for whom the Slovenia summit was the second of its kind, said that the event was a special moment for the countries, which used to be part of the former Yugoslavia and have attended the summit. He thought that such contacts are necessary.

A special statement signed by the FRY and Croatia at the summit will certainly have an influence on the stabilisation of Bosnia, chair of the Bosnia-Herzegovina presidency, Beriz Belkic said in a comment on the statement on Yugoslav-Croatian relations. He hailed the part of the statement, which explicitly mentioned Bosnia-Herzegovina as an independent, sovereign and internationally-recognised state.

"Although this is a fact that needs no further confirmation, I support the signed statement because some political factions in Bosnia-Herzegovina still think that Bosnia has not yet become fully independent and sovereign," Belkic, who attended a central European summit for the first time, said. Moreover, he hailed Friday's ratification of an accord on the rearrangement of relations between Serbia and Montenegro, adding that Bosnia is ready to keep co-operating with this neighbour.

"Macedonia definitely belongs to Europe," President Boris Trajkovski, another head of state which attended the central European summit for the first time, stressed, answering a reporter's question about Macedonia's Central European identity.

Romanian President Ion Iliescu stressed that while globalisation is necessary, it also has negative consequences, such as drug-trafficking and illegal migration. Iliescu expressed a desire for the 11th Central European summit to be held in Romania.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma thought that while expanding, the EU should also take into consideration the countries, which will be left out of the next round of enlargement. In his view, a solution that would take into account interest of all countries and would be the least painful economically should be found.

STA (Slovene Press Agency)