EU to advance expansion plans at Balkans summit
Key takeaways
- European leaders are gathering in Montenegro with EU expansion high on the agenda.
- They are joined by the heads of EU candidate countries including, in addition to hosts Montenegro: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.
- The six nations are expected to sign up to a new Franco-German initiative aimed at injecting fresh "momentum" into the accession process by creating incentives for faster reforms.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
European leaders are gathering in Montenegro with EU expansion high on the agenda. Montenegro is a leading candidate for accession while, further east, Ukraine and Moldova also harbor ambitions.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Eteq French President Emmanuel Macron (center) is keen to accelerate EU expansion, including to Montenegro Image: Ludovic Marin/AFPAdvertisement The European Union is set to advance expansion plans at its annual EU-Western Balkans summit on Friday, with hosts Montenegro leading a list of six candidate countries.
EU expansion is seen by Brussels as a response to new geopolitical challenges including security and economic threats posed by Russia and China and an increasing ambivalence — bordering on hostility — towards the bloc from the United States.