Hello and welcome to Monday – I’m Mared Gwyn, bringing you this newsletter from Brussels.
European Council chief António Costa kicks off his one-week tour of the Western Balkans in Bosnia & Herzegovina’s capital of Sarajevo this morning, before traveling through six countries and concluding with the EU-Western Balkan Summit in Tivat, Montenegro on Friday.
Officials close to Costa say the whistle-stop tour demonstrates the “priority and importance” he attaches to the region, and the way he sees the countries’ accession to the EU as a “necessity for Europe and investment in the security and stability of the continent”.
All of the six countries bar Kosovo are official candidates to join the bloc – Pristina is currently recognised as a “potential” candidate – with Montenegro leading the pack and tipped by some to integrate fully into the EU by the end of this year.
It makes the setting of Friday’s summit – which will be attended by the majority of EU leaders and all of the six Western Balkan leaders – particularly symbolic.
