EU enlargement has long been the quiet promise at the heart of the European project, and the summit held on 5 June 2026 in Tivat, Montenegro, gave that promise its most urgent, luminous expression in a decade.
A gathering of historic weight
The city of Tivat, set against the Adriatic coast of Montenegro, offered a fitting backdrop. Europe has always expressed its deepest ambitions in places of beauty. The summit was hosted by Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović and co-chaired by European Council President António Costa. It welcomed some of Europe’s most influential leaders, including Ursula von der Leyen, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz, Giorgia Meloni, Pedro Sánchez, and Donald Tusk, alongside leaders from across the Western Balkans.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described enlargement as a strategic investment in Europe’s stability, prosperity, and security, while António Costa stressed that the Western Balkans remain an integral part of the European Union’s future. These are not merely diplomatic phrases. They carry the weight of a civilisation that has spent centuries building institutions, laws, and shared values across a diverse mosaic of peoples.
Leaders assessed the progress made in the gradual integration of the Western Balkans with the EU, and discussed how to advance it further, notably through the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. The conversation was frank, detailed, and purposeful.
What the Growth Plan means for real lives
To understand this summit, one must first understand the Growth Plan. The Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, adopted in 2023, aims to bring partners from the region the benefits of membership ahead of their accession to the EU. It seeks to integrate them into the EU’s Single Market, advance regional economic cooperation, deepen EU-related reforms, and increase pre-accession funding. This in turn accelerates the enlargement process and the growth of partners’ economies.
The plan is supported by the Reform and Growth Facility, its financial instrument with an envelope of 6 billion euros. Overall financing released under this instrument since 2024 amounts to 673.6 million euros. This is not abstract architecture. It is real money, flowing into roads, institutions, digital networks, and the daily conditions of European life.
The gradual integration of the Western Balkans partners, carried out in a reversible and merit-based manner, is ongoing in several policy areas, bringing concrete benefits for citizens and preparing the ground for accession. A civilisation, after all, is built not only in grand gestures but in the patient accumulation of shared practice.
A bold new proposal on accession
The summit also produced something unexpected: a direct political intervention at the highest level. A new proposal on enlargement was tabled by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the EU, Western Balkans Summit in Tivat, Montenegro, on 5 June 2026.
The Tivat proposal aims to address 2 questions: first, what to offer to the Western Balkans when they are ready for accession but are blocked by EU member states; and second, when Montenegro and Albania cross the finish line and join the EU, what could be offered to the rest of the region and Moldova. This is creative statesmanship. It reflects the kind of architectural thinking that has always characterised Europe’s great political moments.
The proposal follows a long line of previous proposals from EU member states as well as from candidates themselves, aiming at simplifying and accelerating the process of EU accession. Gradual integration, an idea originating from think-tanks, was incorporated into Council Conclusions in 2023 and was translated into the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans the same year.
Expert perspective on EU enlargement
The summit in Tivat represents a genuine shift in European political will. For years, enlargement operated as a technical process, managed by officials and largely invisible to citizens. What changed in 2026 is the combination of geopolitical urgency and a concrete financial instrument. The Growth Plan has already delivered funding to frontrunner countries, and the roaming negotiations show that integration can produce tangible results in people’s daily lives. The Merz-Macron proposal, whatever its final form, signals that the largest EU member states now see enlargement not as a favour to the Western Balkans but as a necessity for Europe itself. The challenge ahead is reform: both inside candidate countries and inside EU institutions. Without that dual transformation, enlargement risks remaining, as one analyst put it, unfinished business.
Policy and enlargement professionals working on EU, Western Balkans integration
Reform, frontrunners, and the challenge of cohesion
Not every country in the region stands in the same position. Montenegro opened accession negotiations in 2012 and has provisionally closed more chapters than any other candidate country, though rule-of-law reforms, particularly on judicial independence and organised crime, remain incomplete. Albania opened negotiations in 2020 and has since made faster progress than many in Brussels anticipated.
The EU will redirect Western Balkans reform funding towards frontrunners Montenegro, Albania, and North Macedonia, as other countries are struggling to keep up with reform deadlines. This merit-based approach reflects a principled commitment: the door is open, but only to those who have done the work to walk through it.
The renewed urgency behind Western Balkans enlargement is partly strategic. Russia’s presence in the region, through energy ties, political networks, and disinformation operations, gives Brussels a stronger incentive to anchor these countries firmly within the EU orbit. Europe’s cultural and political heritage has always been tested by those who seek to fragment it. The response, now as before, is to build, to include, and to strengthen the common home.
Conclusion
While no dramatic breakthroughs were announced, the summit delivered a clear political message: EU enlargement is once again high on the European agenda. For those of us who believe in the depth and continuity of European civilisation, this matters profoundly. The Western Balkans carry within them some of Europe’s oldest roads, languages, and architectural traditions. Their full return to the European family is not a political transaction. It is a cultural homecoming. EU enlargement, pursued with both vision and rigour, remains the most powerful instrument Europe holds for building a continent that is stable, united, and worthy of its heritage. We should celebrate every step forward, and demand many more.
Discover more about EU enlargement
- EU, Western Balkans Summit 5 June 2026 (European Council)
- EU enlargement and the Western Balkans Growth Plan (European Commission)
- EU set to reallocate Western Balkans funding in favour of accession frontrunners (Euronews, July 2026)
