CEE calls for sped EU accession of Montenegro and Serbia

Seven CEE member states, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia called on the European Union to accelerate the accession of Montenegro and Serbia to the bloc, saying a failure to integrate the Western Balkans could pose a security threat to the whole region. “If we cannot speed up the European integration process we will have to face serious security challenges in the entire Central European region,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said, adding that the EU should launch membership talks with other countries in the Balkan region. At a summit earlier this year EU leaders said more Balkan states could still join the bloc if they stuck to a path of economic and democratic reforms.