The six Western Balkan countries, aspiring to join the European Union, met in Montenegro on Thursday to discuss how to speed up necessary reforms, create their own single market and ultimately join the bloc.
The countries – Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – were promised EU membership years ago but the accession process has slowed to a crawl, mainly because of reluctance among the EU’s 27 members and a lack of reforms required to meet EU standards, including those concerning the economy, judiciary, legal systems, environmental protection and media freedoms.
The meeting in Montenegro follows similar summits in recent months between top EU officials and regional leaders in North Macedonia’s capital Skopje and Albania’s Tirana.
The bloc wants to use a common growth plan worth 6 billion euros ($6.52 billion) to help the Western Balkans nations form a regional common market and join the European common market in areas such as free movement of goods and services, transport and energy.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/leaders-western-balkans-eu-meet-discuss-growth-plan-reforms-2024-05-16/
