The President of the European Council, António Costa, will visit the six countries of the Western Balkans between Tuesday 13 and Thursday 15 May, ahead of the opening of the ‘European Political Community’ in Tirana next Friday (see other news).
According to the European Council, the purpose of this visit is to demonstrate European support for the reforms already undertaken by the governments of these countries.
Mr Costa will be in Serbia on Tuesday morning, followed by Bosnia-Herzegovina in the afternoon. He will travel to Montenegro on Wednesday morning, then to Kosovo, and will finish with a visit to North Macedonia on Thursday morning, before heading to Albania in the afternoon.
On Wednesday 7 May, Albania received the green light from EU Member States for the forthcoming opening of its fourth cluster of chapters (see EUROPE 13636/7). In mid-December, Montenegro closed three new chapters (7, 10 and 20), for the first time in over seven years.
Progress is less tangible in the other EU candidate countries, due to internal crises (see EUROPE 13618/4) or their excessive proximity to Vladimir Putin’s Russian regime (see EUROPE 13630/15). Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić took part in the military parade organised by the Kremlin to commemorate the victory over the Nazi regime, on Friday 9 May in Moscow.
Many within the EU now believe that enlargement is a crucial necessity for the future of the Union (see EUROPE 13624/4). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)