The pledge was made Wednesday in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, at an annual summit also attended by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk.
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“It is the ultimate guarantee that there would be a Europe [that is] whole, free, and at peace”, he said.
“The refugee crisis is restraining the resources of the countries in the region”, Biden said.
Those meetings will happen on the sidelines of a summit of Southeastern European leaders in Zagreb hosted by Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Slovenian President Borut Pahor. The move came after the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13 raised security concerns across Europe.
Pahor, who is co-hosting the event, earlier said that the summit aimed to boost “cooperation and mutual trust at a moment of increased security risks”.
“The Balkans remains a potential powder keg”, she told AFP. Biden’s appearance indicates renewed USA interest in the region, which was engulfed in a bloody civil war in the 1990s as the former Yugoslavia broke up.
“The US is back at the table”.
The wave of refugees fleeing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa has become a source of tension among the countries on the migrant corridor – Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.
The crisis has at times strained relations between Western Balkan neighbours and former foes as they grapple with how best to manage the huge influx. Biden attends a conference of southern and eastern European leaders to discuss the surge of migration this year. Several European countries, including EU members Slovenia and Croatia and non-members Serbia and Macedonia, have declared they will only allow “war-zone refugees” from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria to transit through their countries on their way to central and northern Europe.
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The United Nations has warned that the tightening of restrictions is creating an increasingly untenable situation, stranding many outdoors as temperatures plunge.
