Central European summit in Romania

Presidents of 17 Central Europe nations met in the Black Sea resort of Mamaia, Romania, to discuss European Union enlargement and the Balkans' stability. However, the 18th president, Carlo Ciampi of Italy, was unable to attend the Thursday session because of illness, Romanian media reported. The nation's protection service patrolled the sea and sky while pedestrians were cautioned to obey traffic agents and the 1,000 police specially imported to Mamaia, once dubbed the pearl of the Black Sea. The summit is the 11th annual regional meeting of the presidents since Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic agreed to open dialogue between the European Union and former Eastern bloc countries, and comes less than a month of the EU accepting 10 new members, including eight nations formerly in the Soviet realm.