The leaders of the European Union and the Western Balkans will meet on Friday 5 June in Tivat, Montenegro, to discuss in particular the enlargement process and review the progress made in the gradual integration into the EU of the region’s six partners, against the backdrop of the current turbulent geopolitical context, and a few days after the proposals by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (see EUROPE 13872/3), who suggested new solutions enabling Ukraine to be granted associate member status and the Western Balkan countries observer status, before their full accession to the Union.
“The summit will be a clear demonstration of our determination to deepen our cooperation and to build on the current momentum of European Union enlargement”, stressed President of the European Council António Costa in Sarajevo, the first stop on his regional tour ahead of the summit.
At a press conference in Tirana alongside Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, António Costa defended the idea that the European Union should “continue on the current path” of accession negotiations with the Western Balkan countries, “particularly Montenegro and Albania”, because “we are on a very good trajectory”.
He noted that drafting work on Montenegro’s future treaty of accession had already begun, while Albania has now opened all the negotiation chapters and can begin provisionally closing some of them after meeting the interim benchmarks in the cluster of chapters devoted to fundamentals (see EUROPE 13879/20). Montenegro aims to join the European Union by 2028 and Albania by 2030.
Montenegro’s future treaty of accession is expected to serve as a model for the next generation of treaties of accession, with new mechanisms intended to penalise any backsliding on the Rule of law. Among the options currently under consideration are reportedly limiting voting rights and reducing European funding, according to a senior European source.
“We can always improve the process, but today we must focus on implementing what is already under way”, António Costa insisted.
In Skopje, the President of the European Council sought to additionally allay the concerns of the Western Balkans partners, explaining that Chancellor Merz had proposed “a special process, a special status” for Ukraine in order to bridge the gap between the conclusion of accession negotiations and its formal entry into the European Union.
“The situation of the Western Balkans countries is fundamentally different. Fortunately, they are not at war”, he said. “I do not think it is necessary to create a special status for the Western Balkans countries, because they do not need to bridge such a gap”, he added.
The discussions come after the recent proposals by the German Chancellor, which have prompted mixed reactions both among EU Member States and within the Western Balkans countries (see EUROPE 13874/25). For their part, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas (see EUROPE 13876/16), who will take part in the Tivat summit, as well as European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos (see EUROPE 13874/25), welcomed Friedrich Merz’s proposals in the current geopolitical context.
In Brussels, Edi Rama proved the most favourable to the idea of gradual integration with limited rights before full accession. He acknowledged the need for “a creative approach” in the current geopolitical context, while war is ongoing on the European continent. He nevertheless insisted that “candidate countries must not be separated” and noted the importance of preserving the merit-based nature of the accession process (see EUROPE 13875/3).
In a joint op-ed published in March in the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Edi Rama and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić had already taken the view that a “realistic path towards the European Union” would consist in joining first the single market and the Schengen area, without having voting rights within the European institutions.
For his part, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski clearly indicated on 2 June that his country wanted “a normal, credible and predictable process”. “We are not asking for privileges. We are not asking for easier rules”, he insisted, adding: “What we need is clarity”.
Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia recently called on the European Commission to present “proposals” aimed at speeding up the gradual integration of candidate countries into the single market, considering that “attractive incentives are needed” to encourage the implementation of “irreversible reforms” and that “gradual integration has demonstrated its usefulness in combating reform fatigue” (see EUROPE 13871/2).
The Commission is expected to continue negotiations soon with each of the six Western Balkans countries in order to integrate them into the European ‘free roaming’ area, following the green light given by the ambassadors of the EU Member States. This step forward will be presented as one of the summit’s concrete results, according to a senior European source.
Moldova and Ukraine joined the European free roaming area on 1 January this year. The Western Balkans countries currently benefit only from reduced mobile data tariffs under a voluntary agreement between the main telecommunications operators, in force since October 2023.
Backsliding observed in Serbia in the field of the Rule of law, in particular relating to controversial judicial reforms, the absence of progress in normalising relations between Serbia and Kosovo, as well as persistent political disputes between the different communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, continue to hamper progress in the region. Bosnia and Herzegovina remains the only Western Balkans country not yet to have benefited from the funding provided for under the Growth Plan.
The leaders of the six Western Balkans partners will take part in the summit In Montenegro. On the European Union side, only the leaders of Finland, Sweden and Latvia will be absent, a European diplomat confirmed to Agence Europe.
The summit will begin on Thursday 4 June with a symbolic informal dinner in Montenegro, which this year is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its independence from Serbia. (Original version in French by Ana Pisonero Hernández)