This is according to the Vienna-based daily Presse, that cites "warnings" about the EU "losing the Western Balkans" that have been "piling up in various publications."
Media interests in the region is increasing, reporters are being sent there and reports published, says Presse.
The western Balkans have reemerged as a geopolitical fault line.
European Commissioner For Regional Policy & Enlargement Johannes Hahn told CorD that the pace of negotiations depends on the progress countries make in implementing the necessary reforms.
-Quality goes before speed, but I always say that it is good to be ambitious. The Berlin Process serves to drive that reform programme forward, always with a view to strengthening each country’s preparations to meet their European Integration ambitions, said Hahn to CorD Magazine, published monthly in Belgrade.
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic says that his country will maintain its "the road toward the EU" foreign policy course.
Speaking a day after Serbia's new government was elected, he said the EU integration was being carried out "for the sake of citizens, not for EU's sake."
The minister took part in the opening of a conference dubbed "Multi-speed Europe - Western Balkans in reverse" via a video message, and said that the new government will keep the priorities of the previous one.
The EU and NATO are coordinating very strongly on different messages they are sending, including in the Western Balkans.
EU foreign policy and security chief Federica Mogherini said this in Brussels on Thursday, after arriving at the NATO defense ministerial meeting.
Mogherini also announced that she and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg could visit the region together in the fall.
The new US administration has not yet formulated a policy towards the Western Balkans, and the European Union is running out of “carrots” to motivate the Balkan countries in the implementation of reforms, and again European integration, with Russian obstructions, still remains the best way for the region – US analysts said on Monday on the panel “Western Balkans – Delicate Balance” at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Austrian Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil warned on the expansion of influence from Turkey and Saudi Arabia in the states of the Western Balkans.
The EU influence in the states of the Western Balkans is declining, and at the same time Turkey and Saudi Arabia extend their influences in Albania, Kosovo and Serbia, stated Doskozil to the German based newspaper Welt.
He assessed it about hidden Islamization.
Deputy Assistant of NATO Secretary General for Operations, John Manza stated that NATO will keep its presence in the Western Balkans region as it has strategic importance to the Alliance.
As it was posted on the KFOR web-site, security in this region contributes to the stability and safety in entire Europe, Manza stated, adding that NATO will stay present and focused on the Western Balkans.
In late April and into May, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, Hoyt Yee, made several visits and high-level phone calls to the countries of the Western Balkans. These states have been wracked by corruption scandals and governing standoffs that have raised questions about the effectiveness of American assistance. Yee’s efforts have yielded some positive outcomes. But they also made clear that American diplomacy alone cannot provide the longer-term solutions to the region’s nagging political and economic problems.
Germany has prepared "a special program for the Western Balkans" - as compensation for the long wait of the region's countries to join the EU, writes a daily.
Citing diplomatic sources, Vecernje Novosti is reporting that Berlin has prepared a "mini Marshall Plan" for the Balkans, which should over the next few years boost the economies in the region.