Five Central European countries, all members of the European Union, have urged the EU to grant candidate status to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"It is about a signal from our governments that the Western Balkans are important for the EU," Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said on July 13 in Budapest.
The foreign ministers of the so-called C5 -- Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia -- demanded that the next EU summit in October put the issue on the agenda.
In June, Ukraine and Moldova were granted EU candidate status.
Bosnia, which is still suffering from the effects of a 1992-95 war, was passed over at that summit.
Of the Western Balkan states, only Bosnia and Kosovo do not yet have candidate status.
In late June, leaders of six Balkan countries complained about the lack of progress on their bids to join the EU ahead of the bloc's decision to grant Ukraine and Moldova candidate status.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama hailed the granting of candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova but said they should have no illusions.
He pointed out that Albania and other Balkan countries have had candidate status for years -- North Macedonia since 2005 and Albania since 2014.
Rama and the leaders of the other five Balkan countries seeking EU membership -- Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia -- met with EU leaders for four hours ahead of the announcement granting candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.