The European future of Croatia and Serbia dominated a trilateral meeting of presidents Laszlo Solyom of Hungary, Ivo Josipovic of Croatia and Boris Tadic of Serbia in the southern Hungarian city of Pecs on Friday.
Addressing a joint press conference, President Josipovic said he was confident that Croatia would complete its accession negotiations with the EU before Hungary took over the rotating EU presidency on January 1, 2011.
President Josipovic said that although Croatia had made substantial progress, a few more issues needed to be dealt with, citing cooperation with the Hague war crime tribunal.
Croatia has done almost all it could, it has handed over all the documents and is trying to resolve the situation regarding the requested military documents it has failed to track down, President Josipovic said, expressing hope that the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, will favourably assess Croatia's cooperation with the UN court.
President Josipovic said it was of vital interest to Croatia that its Western Balkan neighbours should also join the European Union. "I'm very pleased that President Tadic and I have acknowledged the need for a quick and resolute settlement of all outstanding issues, and that should also be done with other neighbours."
Tadic said it was important to Serbia that the meeting confirmed that none of the member states would obstruct candidate countries in the accession process, stressing that the only requirement for them should be to meet the Copenhagen membership criteria.
"Serbia wants Croatia to become a European Union member as soon as possible, because that will mean that Serbia will also be able to accomplish that soon," Tadic said.
Solyom said that the meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere, adding that it was a good example of cooperation in the region.
Solyom said that Hungary would continue to do all it could to help Croatia and Serbia in the EU integration process. He said he was pleased that during Hungary's EU presidency Croatia would complete its accession negotiations, while Serbia was expected to be granted official membership candidate status.
Among the topics discussed was the issue of minorities. Solyom said they discussed creation of "cultural nations", communities of ethnic groups which share the same language, culture, history and identity, but whose members have a different citizenship.
"That could be a foundation for resolving minority issues in European countries," the Hungarian president said, stressing that "cultural nations" would have no territorial claims.
Solyom praised Presidents Tadic and Josipovic for their personal contribution and for the contribution of their countries to reconciliation in the region.
Tadic put special emphasis on new standards in the policy of regional reconciliation, which he said he cherished together with President Josipovic.
The three presidents also discussed environmental protection, notably the idea to create biological reserves in the area between the rivers Mura, Drava and Danube.
Josipovic said that the environment was important for the future of all European countries. In this context, he mentioned the problem of land mines in Croatia, left over from the 1991-1995 war, which he said were not just a security problem, but also environmental and economic ones.
President Josipovic thanked Solyom and Tadic for pledging to help Croatia receive international aid for mine removal projects.