EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele have greeted the decision at the summit of the South East Europe Cooperation Process to appoint former foreign minister of the FR Yugoslavia Goran Svilanovic the secretary general of the Regional Council for Cooperation. The election of Svilanovic for that post will boost the regional cooperation, which is one of the key factors in the process of European integrations, and one of the foundational principles of the EU, reads the joint communiqué. Ashton and Fuele have expressed belief that in the forthcoming period the Regional Council for Cooperation will become the main regional institution and enable more efficient participation in the regional cooperation. High European officials have pointed that the degree of such cooperation is an important element of the stabilization and association process, as well as one of the criteria in assessing candidate’s progress in aspirations for membership in the Union.