Fifteen countries, ten of them members of the European Union, sent their foreign ministers to the “Visegrad-4 plus Balkan-4” meeting in Sounio, southern Attica, which concluded on Friday.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, who gave a joint press conference with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto late on Friday, said that the participants discussed their vision of the EU and its future, as well as the issues it must focus on.
“What we all agreed on is that we need to retain our focus on the citizen, not on some abstract forms, or be afraid of taking bold steps,” he said. They also discussed ways of linking among them, which is a theme that will be further explored at a large international congress in Thessaloniki in the future.
Visengrad 4 consists of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia. Balkan 4 consists of Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. All 8 are EU members. Countries under consideration for EU accession talks (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, FYROM, Kosovo and Montenegro) sent observers. EU members Cyprus and Slovenia also sent observers.
Kotzias said that meetings on outstanding issues with Albania are progressing well and noted that he and his counterpart Ditmir Bushati signed an agreement recognizing driver’s licences between countries.
