Leaders of European Union countries, including gathered in the picturesque port of Tivat on Montenegro's Adriatic coast for the annual EU-Western Balkans summit, with expanding the bloc topping the agenda.
After the summit, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was optimistic about a Franco-German initiative aimed at injecting fresh "momentum" into the accession process by creating incentives for faster reforms.
Host Montenegro leads a list of six candidate countries, which also includes Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.
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 towards the bloc from the United States.
EU enlargement must be 'faster'
