Fuele, who was on a two-day visit to Kosovo, today opened in the northern, Serb-populated part of the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica an information point and visited the European Union House which was recently opened there.

Speaking of the progress of the countries in the region in European integration processes, Fuele said that Croatia was in the final stage of its accession talks and that it could achieve its goal of completing the talks by the end of the year. He added that it had been suggested that membership talks be launched with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, adding that settling the issue of its name remained a key problem.

The EU is preparing its opinion on Montenegro's and Albania's membership applications, he said, stressing that Serbia was making progress in preparations for EU membership and that the European Commission was ready to prepare a position on its application as soon as the Council of the EU requested it to do so.

Addressing students of the parallel Pristina University in northern Mitrovica, Fuele said that Kosovo was faced with serious social and economic problems, considerable grey economy, insufficient investment, and huge unemployment.

Kosovo must fight corruption, organised crime and money laundering if its wants its future in Europe to become a reality, Fuele said.

Speaking to reporters after talks with top Kosovo officials on Thursday, Fuele said that Kosovo must work to promote the rule of law as the main precondition for admission to the EU. The EU wants to have a strong partner in Kosovo when it comes to the fight against organised crime and to the rule of law, he said.