EU will help Balkans come up to the bloc’s standards

SOFIA, May 17 (AFP): European Union (EU) leaders anxious to counter Russian influence sought Thursday to reassure Balkan states of their long-promised membership prospects, but warned they would not be joining any time soon.

EU leaders are meeting their counterparts from six Balkan countries in Sofia, a day after a dinner that sought to forge a united front in the face of US President Donald Trump's "capricious assertiveness" on the Iran nuclear deal and trade tariffs.

The bloc faces a dilemma over Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo -- wanting to offer them enough to keep them out of Moscow's orbit without rushing to let them join before they carry out important reforms.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted the countries, collectively referred to as the Western Balkans, to have a "supported dialogue, a perspective", but warned against hasty moves.

"I am not in favour of moving towards enlargement before we have all the required certainties and before genuine reform has been made," Macron told reporters as he arrived for the summit.

EU Council President Donald Tusk said the bloc would invest in infrastructure connections with the Balkans to boost development and bring them up to EU standards.

The EU is increasingly looking to take its fate into its own hands as a transatlantic rift grows with Trump, who withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal and wants to slap tariffs on European steel and aluminium.

Tusk launched a stinging attack on Trump, while adding that he was helping Europe in a way because it had "got rid of all illusions" that it can rely on Washington.

In the summit declaration, a draft of which was obtained by the news agency, the Europeans outlined the theme of "connectivity" with investments in transport and infrastructure.

But the declaration avoids using the words "adhesion" or "enlargement" -- EU code words for the path to membership of the bloc.