The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said that “enlargement is very much at the top” of the EU’s agenda, referring to Western Balkan countries’ membership to the European Union.
In the Berlin Process Summit, von der Leyen said a larger Union is also a stronger Union, Schengen.News reports.
EU Is Only Complete With Western Balkan Countries’ Membership, Scholz Says
The Berlin Summit, initiated in 2014, intends to tighten connections between the EU and Western Balkan countries aspiring to become part of the bloc, thus helping these countries achieve their goal.
At the tenth annual Berlin Process summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his hopes that “it won’t take another ten years” before the six Balkan countries- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia- become part of the EU.
The German Chancellor said important progress was achieved up to now that will make the lives of this region’s citizens easier.
Western Balkan Countries’ Future Lies Within EU
Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign and European Affairs Filip Ivanović, shortly after the summit, said the future of Western Balkans lies within the EU.
Opening the High-Level Policy Dialogue related to Western Balkan integration in the EU, Ivanović said political leaders in Montenegro are committed to European integration, with more than 80 per cent of nationals of Montenegro supporting EU accession.
Montenegro applied for membership in the EU in 2008, with accession negotiations beginning on June 29, 2012.
In June, at the 16th intergovernmental conference held in Brussels, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milojko Spajić, said his country expects to become a member of the EU by 2028.
Opening the first chapter of the accession talks with the European Union, the Prime Minister of Albania said earlier this week that his country should become part of the EU by 2030.
Albania submitted its EU membership application in 2009 and achieved candidate status in 2014.
While North Macedonia applied for EU membership in 2004, both Albania and North Macedonia started the accession talks with the EU in 2022. However, recently, the EU decided that their journey towards EU membership should continue separately.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is also a candidate country for EU membership, with Sarajevo’s membership application being filed in 2016.
The latest Western Balkan country to submit the application for EU membership is Kosovo, on December 15, 2022.
Source: https://schengen.news/von-der-leyen-western-balkans-eu-integration-among-top-priorities/
