European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi announced that the EU may hold inter-governmental conferences with Serbia, Albania and possibly with Macedonia in October.

The conferences are important in beginning or advancing the EU accession talks, which have been stalled for all Balkan countries. Macedonia is blocked by Bulgaria, which insists that Macedonia must include the Bulgarian minority in its Constitution before it can begin EU accession talks.

In an attempt to get the countries to meet the reform and foreign policy demands, Varhelyi touted the 6 billions of euros in the so-called Growth Plan that the EU is dangling before the prospective members.

This unprecedented offer is aimed at supporting the socio-economic development and integration of the region with the EU and to provide benefits of membership before actual membership, Varhelyi said at a conference in Budapest.