Internal stability and values shared by member states are what the European Union should "export" in exchange for "importing" diversity, natural resources, innovation potential and the prospect of economic growth, the Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi said in Berlin on Friday.

Addressing a conference of Southeast European foreign ministers at the Hungarian embassy, Minister Martonyi said that the EU's further enlargement was a "two-way street" process, benefitting not only the newly accessed but the entire bloc.

He described the EU as being an exceptionally successful "enterprise" and a bloc that a number of countries aspire to join.

"The EU is probably the best synthesis of democracy, market economy and social cohesion," he added.

Addressing the conference, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the "next chapter in the EU's history" was the integration of the Balkans. He stated that the region's future was within the EU and its integration would not only benefit them, but was also in the basic interest of the EU 27.

The conference was attended by the foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro and senior foreign affairs officials representing Serbia and Turkey.

Vesna Pusic, the foreign minister of Croatia, slated to become a full-fledged EU member in mid-2013, said that political sides in an aspirant country must not protract the domestic process of reaching a consensus on the integration. In Croatia this process went on for 14 years, which is too long, she added.

Nikola Popovski, the Macedonian Foreign Minister, said that the EU was less about money and more about common values and norms to which each and every member states must adhere.

"That is why the EU is the best peace project," he said.

(Prime Minister’s Office)