The European Union is set to put forward enlargement plans at its annual EU-Western Balkans summit on Friday, with host Montenegro leading the list of six candidate countries.
EU enlargement is seen by Brussels as a response to new geopolitical challenges, including the security and economic threats posed by Russia and China and growing ambivalence bordering on hostility from the United States.
It is the first summit to bring together EU leaders since the election defeat of Hungary’s former Moscow-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who flouted EU standards on democracy and rule of law during his 16-year tenure and forged close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other autocrats.
The gathering, being held in the picturesque port of Tivat on Montenegro’s Adriatic coast, is being attended by European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
They are also joined by the heads of EU candidate countries, which, in addition to host Montenegro, include: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The six countries are expected to sign up to a new Franco-German initiative aimed at injecting new “momentum” into the accession process by creating incentives for faster reforms.
According to a proposal seen by dpa news agency, the incentives include privileged access to the EU single market and the possibility of sending observers to EU institutions.
“For us, the enlargement of the Western Balkans is the most important geopolitical investment the EU is making,” European Council President Antonio Costa said in Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday during a tour of the region ahead of the summit.
“This is not just an opportunity; it is a geostrategic necessity for Europe. And we need to work hard and fast,” he said.
Montenegro: the next EU member state?
Of the six Western Balkan candidates, Montenegro is seen as the frontrunner, having been pursuing membership for 22 years.
The small, mountainous country of 623,000 people adopted the euro as its de facto currency in early 2002, declared independence from union with Serbia in 2006, and joined NATO in 2017.
With reportedly around 80% public support for accession, Montenegro describes itself as a “centre of Euro-optimism” and is aiming to become the EU’s 28th member state by 2028.
“The summit in Tivat is the most important and largest international event in modern Montenegro,” President Jakov Milatovic wrote in an op-ed published by local media earlier this week. He said: “Montenegro, as the 28th member of the EU by 2028, is a task we must accomplish.”
And after progress on economic and democratic reforms recently prompted the EU Enlargement Commissioner, Marta Kos, to flag the possibility of completing technical negotiations by the end of the year, that timeline appears realistic.
Among other Western Balkan countries, Albania is also seen as a promising candidate, but Kosovo’s path to EU membership remains the most complex, as five EU member states still refuse to recognize its independence from Serbia.
Belgrade’s own route of access also remains problematic given its close political ties with Russia and economic ties with China. EU Enlargement Commissioner Koss recently blamed Serbia for democratic “backsliding” under populist President Aleksandar Vucic.
What is the situation in Germany?
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is keen to encourage Western Balkan countries to remain committed to their EU accession plans and meanwhile discourage them from entering into economic partnerships with Russia and China out of desperation.
Incentives are also designed to compensate candidate countries for what some see as preferential treatment given to Ukraine, for which Merz has proposed an accelerated “associate membership” or “EU membership light” – even if this falls short of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s demands for full membership.
“Merz wants Kiev to gain a newly defined status of associate membership,” reports DW’s Michaela Küfner, who is accompanying the German delegation to Montenegro. “Despite Ukraine’s rapid insistence on full status, this is much higher – and much faster – than that of any Balkan country. Rapid access to the EU market and observer status in EU institutions are designed to compensate for Ukraine’s preferential treatment.”
The chairman of Germany’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, David McAllister (CDU), told the dpa news agency this week that Berlin was determined to avoid a “dangerous gray zone” in the Balkans in which other global powers could take advantage of the absence of a strong EU presence.
“Stability in the Balkans means stability for the whole of Europe,” he said, referring to lessons learned from the history of major conflicts in the region (World War I 1914-1918 and the Balkan Wars of the 1990s).
McAllister stressed, “We can provide economic, financial and political support, but in the end, the necessary reforms must be passed by national governments and parliaments.”
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko
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