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NOVI SAD, Serbia : Central European leaders on Friday appealed for a unified approach to tackle the global economic crisis in one of the regions of the world hardest hit by fallout from the recession.
At a regional summit in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad, host President Boris Tadic led the calls for solidarity in dealing with economic and energy issues, as well as European Union expansion.
"We cannot permit that (these issues) become a source of our division, especially in the period of crisis," Tadic said at the opening of the Central Europe Summit.
Italian President Giorgio Napoletano agreed, warning that Europe as a whole was threatened by disunity over the issues of economy, energy and enlargement of the 27-nation EU bloc.
"Without cohesion, consistency and unity, Europe is bound to become less and less relevant on the international scene," Napoletano said, stressing the economic crisis served as a "litmus test."
The US-rooted credit crisis has exposed the frail state of many central and eastern European economies, depriving them of the foreign capital that had seen some achieve gross domestic product (GDP) growth of up to 10 percent.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development warned this month that the crisis risked reversing two decades of major reforms it has overseen in the former communist bloc since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Serbia is one of several countries in the region to have turned to the International Monetary Fund for financial aid, along with Bosnia, Hungary, Latvia, Romania and Ukraine.
Tadic said that Serbia and other western Balkan states were key to securing energy stability and security for the rest of Europe.
"Our region is becoming an energy bridge leading to end-consumers in other parts of Europe. I am sure that we are going to succeed in this if we pursue a common energy policy," he said.
The region also suffered severe shortages of heating gas last winter, when a payments dispute between Russia and Ukraine saw supplies cut particularly to Bosnia, Bulgaria and Serbia.
"For all these reasons, peace and stability in the western Balkans is of the utmost importance from the point of view of the energy stability of Europe as a whole," said Tadic.
"That is why the full integration of our region into the European Union guarantees our peace stability and development, but also the security of the EU itself," he added.
Napoletano stressed that the European Union was at risk of losing ground to other parts of the world unless it got its act together.
"In a geopolitical scenario that is moving towards Asia, the decline of Europe would become unavoidable," the Italian president cautioned.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus criticised the way some EU states dealt with the crisis by introducing measures to protect their own industries.
"The crisis will be sooner or later over, but its long-term consequences, the consequences of measures to mitigate the crisis, will be with us for a much longer time," said Klaus.
"We are satisfied that... the Czech presidency (of the EU) will not be characterised as an increase of protectionism and of excessive regulation, which is a positive achievement especially with regard to the economic and financial crisis."
Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic called for regional cooperation in combating the economic crisis.
"As upheavals in one part of global economy are sending shock waves through its other parts, it would be necessary for all of us to employ synergy based on principles of regional solidarity and partnerships," he said.
The 16th Central European Summit brings together the heads of state from Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
Kosovo, which unilaterally broke away from Serbia last year and is a member of the Central European Free Trade Agreement, was not invited.
- AFP /ls
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