Von der Leyen in Tirana, Serbia and Bosnia off her route
The European Commission president is visiting Tirana, Pristina, Podgorica and Skopje, while trips to Belgrade and Sarajevo wait until after elections in both countries.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen began her sixth annual tour of the Western Balkans in Tirana on Wednesday, September 30, and the itinerary includes neither Belgrade nor Sarajevo. The Commission said it will visit Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina later, because of upcoming elections in both countries, so a visit by the Commission’s leadership to Serbia now waits until after the vote.
Where is she going, and who is she meeting?
In Tirana, von der Leyen meets Albanian President Bajram Begaj and Prime Minister Edi Rama, and visits a school rebuilt after the 2019 earthquake. On Thursday, October 1, she goes to Pristina to talk with Kosovo’s acting president Albulena Haxhiu and Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and to see the new premises of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
Later that day she travels to Podgorica for meetings with Montenegrin President Jakov Milatovic and Prime Minister Milojko Spajic. She also attends the opening of the National Coordination Center, a new operations hub for border management and information sharing with EU member states and Frontex.
The final stop is Skopje, where she meets President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova and Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and tours a railway corridor project. Antena M reports that Skopje is scheduled for Friday. The whole tour is backed by the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, worth six billion euros.
Why are Serbia and Bosnia missing from the list?
The Commission cites elections: Bosnia holds general elections on October 4, and Serbia’s parliamentary vote is set for October 25, according to Exit. The decision followed weeks of speculation over whether von der Leyen would come to Belgrade, given how Serbian officials handled the funeral of Ratko Mladic, Insajder writes.
Von der Leyen said earlier that the images from the funeral were “shocking” and that the elements of official support and the presence of some senior Serbian officials were “deeply saddening”. Mladic died in The Hague on August 27, and Serbia’s justice minister and the president of Republika Srpska attended the commemoration at the Army Home in Belgrade. The funeral took place on September 7. European Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos called the days before the funeral an important test for Belgrade, and President Aleksandar Vucic described her words as stupid.
What does Tirana get in October?
According to Exit, the Commission is expected next month to formally back Albania’s goal of concluding membership negotiations by December 2027. Rama and his ministers have said for months that 2027 is a date agreed with Brussels, while the Commission has so far supported the ambition without committing to a deadline. In July, Marta Kos said:
“Enlargement doesn’t work with dates.”
She added that deadlines become more concrete as a country nears the end of the technical process. In this month’s State of the Union speech, von der Leyen announced roadmaps “for the candidates that have made most progress”, naming Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans. We reported earlier on the preparation of roadmaps for four candidates, Serbia not among them.
The roadmaps are expected at the end of October, alongside the annual enlargement package, in the same month Serbia votes. The Commission is also preparing a report on closing benchmarks for Albania, with a list of reforms Tirana still has to carry out, as it did for Montenegro.
