President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a news conference with the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Tirana, Albania, on Sept. 28, 2021. Leaders from the European Union and the Western Balkans are holding an annual summit in Albania’s capital to discuss the six countries’ path to membership in the bloc. fight.
| Photo Credit: AP

Leaders from the European Union and the Western Balkans will hold a summit in Albania’s capital on October 16 to discuss the path to membership in the bloc for the six countries of the region.

The main topics at the annual talks — called the Berlin Process — are integrating the Western Balkans into a single market and supporting their green and digital transformation. The nations in the region are Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

The senior EU officials attending the summit in Tirana are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council President Charles Michel. They will be joined by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The six Western Balkan countries are at different stages of integration into the bloc. Serbia and Montenegro were the first Western Balkan countries to launch membership negotiations a few years ago, followed by Albania and Macedonia last year, while Bosnia and Kosovo have only begun the first step of the integration process.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has put integration of the Western Balkans into the EU at the top of the 27-nation bloc’s agenda. The EU is trying to reinvigorate the whole enlargement process, which has been stalled since 2013, when the last country to become a member was Croatia.

The EU had made it a requirement for Western Balkans to reform their economies and political institutions before joining the bloc.

Ms. Von der Leyen mentioned a new growth plan for the Western Balkan countries that she will make public at the summit: opening new trade routes in seven specific areas of the EU’s common market for the Balkan countries, which need to implement quick reforms that in turn will be accompanied by investment.

Ms. Von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference on October 15 after meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, gave no further details.

A bitter dispute between Serbia and Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, remains a great concern for the EU before the summit. A recent shootout between masked Serb gunmen and Kosovo police that left four people dead and sent tensions soaring in the region seems to have suspended the EU-facilitated dialogue to normalize their ties.

EU officials have called on the Balkan countries to overcome regional conflicts and stand together as Russia wages war in Ukraine.

The summit, which is being held for the first time in a non-EU member country, takes place at a pharaonic landmark, known as the Pyramid. It was built in 1988 as a posthumous museum for Albania’s communist-era strongman, Enver Hoxha.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers the State of the European Union address to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, September 13, 2023
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The European Union’s chief executive said Wednesday that her services will launch a major series of policy reviews to ensure that the 27-nation bloc can still function properly as it invites in new members in coming years.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU must prepare to grow to more than 30 members. Ukraine, Moldova and countries in the Western Balkans are among those in line.

Even at 27 strong, the world’s biggest trading bloc finds it difficult to make some decisions, particularly those requiring unanimous agreement. Hungary and Poland, notably, have come under fire from Brussels for democratic backsliding and they’ve routinely voted against foreign policy and migration decisions.

Still, pressure is mounting for Europe to open its doors. Concerns have been raised about Russia’s influence in the Western Balkans, particularly in Serbia and Bosnia. Some countries in the region have waited for years to join and have sometimes seen progress in their membership quest stymied.

“History is now calling us to work on completing our union,” Ms. von der Leyen told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France. “In a world where size and weight matters, it is clearly in Europe’s strategic interest.”

At the same time, she said, “we need to look closer at each policy and see how they would be affected.” Ms. Von der Leyen said the commission’s reviews will examine how each policy sector in areas like the economy, energy, agriculture or migration would need to be adapted in the event of expansion.

“We will need to think about how our institutions would work — how the (EU) parliament and the commission would look. We need to discuss the future of our budget — in terms of what it finances, how it finances it, and how it is financed,” she said.

European Council President Charles Michel, who chairs summits of EU leaders, believes that new countries should be welcomed in by 2030. On Monday, the presidents of Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania also said that enlargement should happen “not later than 2030.”

Membership was vital “in view of the continued Russian aggression against Ukraine and its spillover effect” in the region, they said.

But Ms. von der Leyen insisted that “accession is merit-based,” and that the progress these countries make in aligning their laws with EU rules and standards should dictate the pace of membership, rather than some arbitrary deadline.

Ukraine and Moldova were officially granted EU candidate status earlier this year — an unusually rapid decision for the EU and its go-slow approach to expansion, prompted by the war in Ukraine.

At the same time, the EU’s leaders also agreed to recognize a “European perspective” for another former Soviet republic, Georgia.

Serbia and Montenegro were the first Western Balkan countries to launch membership negotiations. followed by Albania and Macedonia last year, Bosnia and Kosovo have only begun the first step of the integration process.

Ms. von der Leyen did not explicitly mention Turkey, whose membership talks started 18 years ago but are at a virtual standstill.