EU Commission President presents Western Balkans growth plan

Brussels, 27 October 2023

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will start a four-day visit to North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday. This will be the occasion to discuss bilateral cooperation, and notably to present in more detail to regional leaders the EU’s Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.

On Sunday, President von der Leyen will meet the President of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski. The following morning, the President will meet with the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovačevski, in Skopje.

Later in the day, she will travel to Pristina, where she will meet the President and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani and Albin Kurti.

On Tuesday morning, the President will be in Podgorica, Montenegro. She will meet with President Jakov Milatović and the caretaker Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazović.

In the afternoon, President von der Leyen will travel to Belgrade. There, she will meet the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, as well as the Prime Minister, Ana Brnabić.

Lastly, on Wednesday, President von der Leyen will meet in Sarajevo with the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She will also meet with the Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers, Borjana Krišto.

The President will hold press conferences during all her visits and they will be broadcast on EbS.

The visit comes after the meetings of President von der Leyen in Albania earlier this month, on 15-16 October. There, she participated in the inauguration of the liaison office of the College of Europe in Tirana and in the Berlin Process Summit. Her remarks then with the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, are available online.