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The foreign ministers of eight central European and Balkan EU countries are holding talks in Greece in which prospective bloc members from the Balkans are also represented.

Friday's meetings in a resort south of Athens bring together ministers from the so-called Visegrad Group — Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary — and Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia.

Talks are focusing on energy, the future of the European Union and the bloc's expansion ahead of an EU summit next week in Bulgaria.

The foreign ministers of Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, all of them hoping to join the EU, have been invited as observers along with colleagues from EU members Slovenia and Cyprus.

Members of the Visegrad Group have been strongly critical of some EU policies, particularly on immigration.