Good morning, Brussels. Angela Skujins hereon newsletter duty, helping you ride out the last day of the week. EU enlargement is on the minds of everyone in the Belgian capital — as well as the tiny Montenegrin town of Tivat.
Western Balkans bundle. EU institutional figureheads and up to 30 European heads of state will today meet six Western Balkan leaders for a bi-annual summit aimed at accelerating the countries’ bid to join the 27-member club. Euronews’ Europe Editor Maria Tadeo sat down exclusively with the European Council President António Costa on Montenegro’s sun-soaked coast to speak about the event and the symbolism it brings to the Balkan region.
“I'm very optimistic about the summit, first of all, because the landscape is very inspiring,” he said in comments on Euronews’ flagship morning news programme Europe Today. Costa, flanked by yachts and the Adriatic Sea, speaks on Thursday from Montenegro, a country widely considered a clear frontrunner, alongside Albania, for joining the EU.
“Montenegro shows that effectively it's possible to move forward on this enlargement, that the member states want this enlargement and the candidate states want to and can effectively make the necessary reforms to enter in the European Union,” he said. Watch.
