EU leaders will meet their counterparts from the Western Balkan countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia - on Wednesday 6 October in Brdo Pri Kranju, Slovenia, for a new EU/Western Balkans summit, following the ones in Sofia in 2018 (see EUROPE 12022/2) and Zagreb in 2020 (see EUROPE 12482/21).
The summit will be an opportunity to reaffirm “unequivocal support at the highest level for the European perspective of the region as a whole”, explained a European diplomat (see EUROPE 12786/1).
After several discussions, the ambassadors of the EU Member States agreed on Monday 4 October on the wording related to enlargement, which will be enshrined in the summit declaration. According to another senior European official, “the EU recognises its commitment to the enlargement process and its decisions taken there on”. It also recalls “the importance for the EU to maintain and deepen its own development, ensuring its capacity to integrate new Member States”, the source added.
While the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council wanted to add to the text a date of 2030 at the latest for the accession of all Western Balkan countries, this proposal was not supported by all Member States.
But this summit will not be a summit on enlargement, warned several diplomats. It will also show what the EU is doing with the Western Balkan countries.
The declaration is therefore expected to focus on the economic and investment plan, the green agenda, and cooperation in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic in both health and economic terms.
The end of roaming charges, cooperation on migration and counterterrorism, and regional cooperation will also be highlighted. “The summit will be marked by tangible, concrete results”, explained the diplomat. He added that the meeting would also be an opportunity for the EU to remind the region - which the great powers covet - that it is its main donor, its main investor, and its closest trading partner.
More specifically, according to the letter of invitation from the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the summit will be divided into two sessions. The first will focus on the EU’s intensified commitment to the region’s socioeconomic recovery and sustainable development and to the need to build back better after the pandemic on the basis of the Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans. The Regional Cooperation Council, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the World Bank will present their views at the discussion, which will also be attended by the President of the European Parliament.
The second session, reserved for EU and Western Balkan leaders, will aim to discuss “how to deepen our political dialogue, security cooperation, and strategic engagement, reaffirming our common will to work towards a strong, stable, and united Europe”, according to Mr Michel. The discussion will also be an “important” opportunity to discuss how to ensure stability in the region, strengthen regional cooperation, and resolve regional conflicts, the President of the European Council said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)