Brussels, 17/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - On the initiative of Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurindana, the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, will host a conference on 18 and 19 March on the theme "Towards a Wider Europe: The New Agenda". A press release announces that it will be attended by the Prime Ministers of the eight future Member States of the EU from eastern Europe plus Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and Albania, and the President of the Republic of Georgia and of Azerbaijan, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and European Commissioner for Enlargement, who is in charge of the new neighbourhood policy, Günter Verheugen, and high-ranking representatives of the US, and members of the academic world and of European and American think tanks.
A press release states that the conference, which is the extension of that held in Bratislava in May 2001 on "The New Democracies in Europe: Leadership and Responsibilities" will be based around the following themes: -the democracies of the Balkans and the challenges of European integration; -Europe's Black Sea and Caucasus Neighbourhood (on Europe's new neighbour's policy, see EUROPE of 12 March, p.10); -the problems and promise of Wider Europe; -Views from the European Union, NATO and the US.