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Croatia's president has criticized the EU for not taking enough of an interest in what is going on in the Balkans.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, whose country is a member of the EU, bemoaned "a lack of understanding of the situation in southeast Europe" and also a "lack of interest."

Other countries in the region, such as Albania and Serbia, are trying to join the bloc but progress has been slow, largely because historical issues partly connected to the wars of the 1990s still need to be solved.

Leaders of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia met Thursday with Balkan EU members Croatia and Slovenia as well as invitee Poland in the Albanian capital of Tirana to discuss how to cooperate more.

The EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was also present.