President of the European Commission (EC) Jose Manuel Barroso said that the EU bore 'historic responsibility' for the Balkans.

Bulgarian National Radio quoted Barroso as saying that the EU had to open its doors to all countries from the Western Balkans. He added that the union had the capacity and resources necessary for the successful integration of the Balkans.

Barroso said that unless the countries joined the EU the pace of reforms would slow down. As the Balkans were already an unstable region, a delay in reforms might worsen the human trafficking and smuggling problems and even lead to new wars, he added.

Barroso said that the new enlargement was a 'real challenge' for the EU member states. He said that he sensed growing enlargement anxiety in several member states. France, the Netherlands and Denmark requested a re-evaluation of EU's capacity to accept new members before assuming any position on the enlargement issue.