The leaders of the European Union and the six countries of the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia – will meet on Wednesday 6 May for a summit by videoconference.
This summit, originally scheduled to take place in Zagreb on 7 May, was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12463/16), but the Croatian EU Council Presidency, which has made the Western Balkans one of its priorities, has insisted that the summit should take place, even in the form of a videoconference.
The event is expected to focus mainly on cooperation between the EU and the Western Balkans in the fight against Covid-19 and on the socio-economic and political consequences of the pandemic, according to a European source consulted on Tuesday 5 May.
The draft summit conclusions obtained by EUROPE – approved by the EU Member States and submitted to the leaders of the Balkan countries, which may join them – mention, at the outset, the EU’s “strong solidarity” with its partners “in the context of the coronavirus crisis”. They also highlight the Commission’s proposal to mobilise €3.3 billion in aid to the countries of the region to deal with the pandemic (see EUROPE 12477/8).
“The current pandemic shows how the EU and the Western Balkans are addressing common challenges together”, notes the text. It recalls that “support and cooperation goes far beyond what any other partner has provided to the region” and that this deserves public recognition.
At the beginning of the crisis, Europeans were criticised by several partners, notably Serbia (see EUROPE 12447/7), for their lack of support.
The fight against disinformation could also be discussed.
Not an enlargement summit
The summit will be an opportunity to reaffirm, on both sides, the European perspective of the region. However, it will not focus directly on the enlargement process, although Croatia had made the opening of EU accession negotiations in Skopje and Tirana a priority of its Presidency of the EU Council (see EUROPE 12454/31).
A European source said that issues related to enlargement and the Stabilisation and Association Process would not be discussed at the summit, but at the General Affairs Council in June.
Moreover, the draft conclusions do not explicitly mention the EU accession process of the countries concerned. They merely highlight the EU’s “unequivocal” support “for the European perspective of the Western Balkans”.
In a videoconference at the EPC, North Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov would have preferred “a more tangible formulation on enlargement”, while stressing that the wording chosen could not mean anything other than EU membership at some point in time.
However, in a joint statement on 5 May, the Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Chairmen of the delegations and the rapporteurs for the Western Balkan countries considered that the summit “offers a new opportunity for all parties to enter a new phase in the enlargement process”. See: https://bit.ly/3cjhQbr
Another statement by the S&D group in Parliament also puts the spotlight on enlargement. See: https://bit.ly/2YBrguH
Strengthening cooperation
The draft summit conclusions underline the EU’s determination “to further intensify its commitment at all levels to support the political, economic and social transformation of the region”. The EU, in turn, welcomes the commitment of the Western Balkans to “defend European values and principles and to carry out the necessary reforms in a thorough and vigorous manner”.
They go on to state, “The leaders of the Western Balkans must ensure that fundamental values, democratic principles and the rule of law are strictly respected and implemented, including during the implementation of special and extraordinary measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic”.
The commitment of the countries of the Western Balkan region to reform will therefore also be on the summit’s agenda.
The EU is also expected to reiterate its support for inclusive regional cooperation, the strengthening of good neighbourly relations and the further deepening of regional economic integration. Common security challenges, including the fight against terrorism, extremism, corruption, organised crime, trafficking in human beings and drug trafficking, as well as cooperation to address migration challenges, are also mentioned in the conclusions.
And while an economic and investment plan was initially planned to be presented at this summit, it will be postponed until the end of the immediate measures taken to contain the pandemic. According to the draft conclusions, in order to become viable market economies, the Western Balkans should be involved in the EU’s climate ambitions, promoting the digital economy and strengthening connectivity. Emphasis should also be placed on social development.
Finally, while the draft conclusions do not put forward a date for a future summit, EU leaders say they are ready to relaunch their political dialogue with the Western Balkans, “including at regular high level”.
A summit under tension
On the Western Balkans side, all leaders are expected to participate in the summit. On the European side, the Prime Ministers of the Netherlands and Belgium will be absent and represented by Luxembourg. Spain, which had not attended the 2018 summit because of the presence of Kosovo, whose independence it does not recognise, is expected to be present this time.
In order to avoid sensitivities, all participants were asked to use a uniform background and to “avoid any signs that would make videoconferencing difficult”, according to one source.
Finally, the European Christian Democrat (EPP) and Social Democrat (PES) parties are each organising a pre-summit on the Western Balkans on Wednesday 6 May. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)