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Members of the European Parliament at the European Parliament in Strasbourg - Source: Reuters
Seven Balkan states urged the European Union at a summit to stay committed to enlargement, but Serbia's refusal to attend alongside an independent Kosovo exposed deep regional divisions.
The leaders meeting in Slovenia also called on the EU to ease visa requirements for citizens of countries throughout the the western Balkans.
But Serbia's absence due to a dispute over its former province of Kosovo overshadowed the meeting, which was meant to revive regional co-operation among Balkan states who share the goal of joining the EU.
However, Slovenia's Prime Minister Borut Pahor said the historic rivalries and complexities of the Balkans were not the only obstacle, as the EU itself was divided over how to treat the region and particularly Kosovo.
"We are dealing with an EU that underestimates the opportunity this region is giving to the continent as a whole and to the EU," Pahor told a news conference after the summit.
"It would not be the first time that the EU failed to see that this is a breakthrough point (for the region), that it would look at the problems, get scared and turn away, letting the opportunity slip by," he added.
The EU extended visa-free travel to citizens of Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro in November last year, but kept visa requirements for Bosnian and Albanian nationals. It will review them by mid-April.
Almost 20 years after the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia, Slovenia is the only successor state to join the EU.
In a joint declaration the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to join the bloc and said they would meet regularly to coordinate regional activities, particularly in transport and energy infrastructure.
The meeting, organised by Slovenia and Croatia at a picturesque presidential palace at the foot of the Alps, hoped to bring leaders of Serbia and Kosovo together for the first time since Kosovo declared independence two years ago.
But Serbia, the biggest country in the region, refused to attend unless Kosovo attended as a UN-run protectorate, a demand Pristina flatly refused.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, the only high-level Brussels official attending, told reporters the conference was a step in the right direction and urged the countries "to see the big picture".
Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said the Balkans' youngest country's aim was to cooperate and not boycott. He also said that Kosovo was ready to participate with Serbia.
"Kosovo and Serbia share the will towards integration in the European Union and NATO but we should also have cooperation at the neighbourly level and the regional level so we can help each other towards EU integration," Thaci told a separate news conference.
Croatia hopes to follow Slovenia into the EU in 2012 while other ex-Yugoslav states have a long way to go. They must implement political and economic reforms, while Serbia also has to cooperate with the U.N. war crimes tribunal and show what Brussels regards as a more constructive stance on Kosovo.
Although the nationalism that fuelled ethnic wars at the break-up of Yugoslavia has eased, many disputes in the region remain as most states continue to have bilateral border and economic problems.
