PORTO CARRAS (Greece), June 21: The leaders of five Balkan states met for the first time their European Union counterparts on Saturday for a one-day summit that they hope will speed up their integration into the EU.

The EU leaders, fresh from agreeing on a draft constitution for an enlarged Union, want to give a new boost to the five — Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro.

But they are likely to tell them that the pace of integration depends entirely on their willingness to implement reform.

“They have to continue the process of political and economic reform on which they are embarked. But we wish to be more hands on in helping them in that process,” EU external relations commissioner Chris Patten said Friday.

“The destiny for the people of southeast Europe is membership of the European Union and we want to underline that at this summit.”

Brussels wants the war-torn Balkan states to press ahead with political, economic and judicial reforms and to step up the fight against organized crime, blamed for the March assassination of Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic.

For all its encouragement though, including financial incentives and talk of wanting to fill the “hole in the map of Europe”, the EU has been reluctant to talk about offering them a date for candidature.

Patten’s spokeswoman, Emma Udwin, said the five would not be given a timetable for membership as it was up to them how quickly they could join.

But to help, integration partnerships will be discussed, including the notion of “twinning”, whereby the EU would lend civil servants to the countries to help them bring their legislatures into line with the EU.

The Greek EU presidency, keenly aware of the need for stability in its own back yard — the five are just a few hours’ drive from Greece — has made a priority of holding open the door to them.

Under this impetus, EU leaders are expected to pledge to release an extra 200 million euros from 2004-2006 to help the region’s development. Since 1991 the EU has provided more than seven billion euros to the five Balkan countries.—AFP