Citizens of the Republic Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro welcome the historic enlargement of the European Union. They congratulate the EU and its new members on the hard work that has now been crowned with success. This is a remarkable achievement, which all Europeans should be truly proud of.

The Copenhagen European Council in December 2002, confirmed the European prospective of our countries. The future of SAP countries - the Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro is within the EU. Until they are fully integrated into the EU, the enlargement will not be complete. The final status of Kosovo (UNSCR 1244) has not yet been resolved. We, however, agree that all citizens of South East Europe have a European future without exclusion.

The SAP countries have made great progress by introducing wide-ranging political, economic and social reforms. At the same time, governments and citizens have repeatedly stressed the commitment and overwhelming priority of full integration in European and Euro-Atlantic structures.

We are aware of the various stages our countries have reached in their approach toward the EU. Croatia has been the first among us to apply for the EU membership, and we support its efforts in this regard. SAP countries' success in achieving a candidate status shall represent a success for the whole Europe and shall serve as the best evidence that SAP is producing tangible results.

Regional cooperation has proved to be pivotal assets for the countries in the region in facilitating 'their integration into EU structures. Significant results already achieved in the fields like trade liberalization, transportation and telecommunications, energy, and justice and home affairs (including the fight against the organized crime, border management, and visa regime). These achievements constitute solid foundation for the countries of the region in further progress in relevant fields of cooperation. However, there is a room for additional improvement in the field of regional cooperation through the joint effort of the countries of the region. The support of the EU and other relevant organizations in this effort is indispensable and we expect it to be more visible. The regional initiatives remain to play crucial role in promoting the regional cooperation, in particular the Southeast European Cooperation Process and the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe.

The integration into EU structures requires much effort from our countries. The Stabilization and Association Process is the framework, an entry strategy, for the preparation of our countries, on an individual basis, for integration into EU through full acceptance of the European values, principles and standards. We are convinced that the EU Summit in Thessaloniki represents an extraordinary opportunity for the EU and the SAP countries to intensify their efforts that shall lead to concrete progress towards European integration. The Greek EU Presidency has given our region tremendous encouragement in this regard, in particular with its emphasis on the need to develop an enhanced programme of more structured engagement with the SAP countries.

The SAP countries are firmly focused on the fight against organised crime, on the improvement of economic situation through reforms, by increasing domestic and foreign investments and free movement of goods and services. Both the region and the EU can assist the process of full integration greatly by offering a genuine hope to our citizens that soon they will be able to travel freely in whole Europe.

There is a clear consensus on the importance of strengthening the rule of law across the region. This is, above all, the responsibility of our governments. We remain committed to strengthen additionally our institutions, continue the work on the legislation, and integrated border management. Substantial progress across the region has been made. The citizens support the institutions in these efforts. Our countries are committed to continue along this path through increased bilateral and regional cooperation and coordination.

The stability is closely connected to the economic prosperity. It is of utmost importance for all the countries in the region to achieve sustainable economic growth, to increase domestic and foreign investments, reduce unemployment and efficiently combat poverty.

The European Union boasts a remarkable record of triggering economic success by helping less developed regions in their social and economic development. This has been the result of policy of integration into a larger market, sound macroeconomic and fiscal policies and implementation of economic and social cohesion aims of the Union trough appropriate funds, We are greatly encouraged by the Greek Presidency's proposal that the Thessaloniki Summit focus on possibilities of applying cohesion and development policies in our region. At the same time, we want to work out with the EU how to spend more affectively the funds we receive.

And we also welcome those in the European Union who have suggested for pre-accession mechanisms to apply on the cohesion in our region. We fully accept the conditionality that must accompany any shift from reconstruction to cohesion, including a commitment on our part to co-finance European projects.

Recently we have successfully begun to block the flow of illegal migrants through our countries into countries of the EU. We hope that in recognition of the hard work in this area the EU might review its present visa policies for all our citizens. The successful continuation of the reform process in our countries depends on a new generation of responsible citizens with international experience. A positive democratic and economic evolution will be nourished by the opportunities which international exchange and travel bring.

We expect that the Summit in Thessaloniki will send a strong political message to the countries and peoples of the region that the EU, as a community of values based on democracy, rule of law and respect of fundamental rights and freedoms, is committed to the European future of all SAP countries and that Europe will be truly unified only after all the countries in the region will become an integral part of it.