EP President, Roberta METSOLA, participates to the EU-Western Balkans Summit. Before her address to the Council, she speaks to the press. One year after the 2022 summit in Tirana, EU and Western Balkans leaders met in Brussels for their fourth annual summit. The summit is an opportunity to reaffirm the EU membership perspective of the Western Balkans and also the need for partners’ sustained and irreversible reform achievements, underpinned by EU values and principles.

EU - Serbia (T)

EU - North Macedonia (T)

EU - Bosnia and Herzegovina (T)

EU - Kosovo (T)

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

meeting of the European Council

EU - Montenegro (T)

EU - Albania (T)

Enlargement to the Western Balkans countries (T)

president's agenda

EU-Western Balkans Summit: Doorstep by Roberta METSOLA, EP President

SOUNDBITE, (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President Good afternoon to you all. Just coming straight from Strasbourg, I am clearly very stating that the European Parliament has been one of the staunchest and most vocal supporters of EU enlargement. And with that, the European future of the Western Balkans. For us, European enlargement has been one of the most successful and powerful tools. It is a win win for everybody. We have seen that in the past.

SOUNDBITE, (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President Our hope today is that we don't continue to go around in circles because if we give hope, it has to be matched by tangible and concrete deliverables. Otherwise, first of all, it will evaporate. And secondly, that void will be filled by those who want to fuel instability in our immediate neighborhood. None of us want that. So we will be sending the most clear of messages today and tomorrow at the European Council when we talk about enlargement. It is very important that we are meeting today.

SOUNDBITE, (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President And then I will end my speech by also saying that that means that if the political courage shown by the Western Balkan countries can be matched by ours, we need to be ready to change. We need to be ready to reform. For that, we have a clear idea how to do so, and I'm sure we will manage. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE, (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President As we have said before, we welcomed the recommendations by the European Commission for Ukraine and Moldova, but also for Georgia and also Bosnia and Herzegovina, we will welcome and continue to augur for further steps. Thank you.