Bulgaria

An informal meeting of EU foreign ministers will take place in March 2006 which will be attended by all candidate countries which include Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey.

The purpose of the gathering will be designed to primarily to foster the development of the common foreign and security policy and will also be attended by High Representative Javier Solana.

An Austrian foreign ministry source said: “One of the focuses of the Austrian presidency is to give the Southeast European countries a clear perspective on Europe. Our aim in this respect is to bring rapprochement with the European Union and to encourage the process of democracy, rule of law and economic reforms in the region.”