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Von der Leyen visiting Skopje for meetings with Siljanovska Davkova and Mickoski

by AI | 24.Oct 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during her four-day tour of the six Western Balkan countries, will visit Skopje today. According to announcements, during the visit to North Macedonia, von der Leyen will have meetings with President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova and Prime Minister Christian Mickoski.

Press conference of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen at the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia in Skopje (October 2023). Photo: MIA

Skopje/Brussels – The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will stay in Skopje today as part of her four-day tour of the six Western Balkan countries. According to announcements, during her visit to North Macedonia, Von der Leyen will meet with President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova and Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski.

In anticipation of Von der Leyen’s visit to the region, the European Commission yesterday approved the reform agendas of North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro, related to the Western Balkan Growth Plan, which commit them to socio-economic and fundamental reforms to be implemented in the period from 2024 to 2027 to stimulate growth and connectivity with the EU. The approval of the reform agendas was a key step to enable the disbursement of funds within the framework of the Western Balkans Reform and Growth Mechanism, with a total value of six billion euros.

As stated yesterday by the deputy chief spokesperson of the EC, Arianna Podesta, the Growth Plan and the progress of the European path of the Western Balkan countries will be the main topics of Von der Leyen’s meetings with her hosts during the tour of the region.

– Enlargement is a key priority for the Commission, and we have reiterated this in the past years, which we proved during the first mandate, and we will certainly continue to consider it a priority in the second mandate. This is something that the President herself (Von der Leyen) announced, added Podesta.

Von der Leyen will travel to Skopje from Tirana, where she will meet with the President of Albania, Bajram Begaj, this morning. She started her Balkan tour from Tirana, where yesterday she met with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and spoke at the ceremony marking the start of the academic year at the European College of Tirana. After the meeting with Rama, Von der Leyen announced that the European Commission will publish the reports on the progress of the candidate countries for EU membership next week.

Von der Leyen from Skopje will depart for the Bosnian town of Jablanica this afternoon, where she will visit areas recently affected by floods. Tomorrow morning, she will meet with the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, as well as with the Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers, Borjana Krišto, after which she will leave for Belgrade to meet with the Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Milosh Vučević. On Saturday, Von der Leyen will stay in Pristina, where she will meet with the President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti, after which she will travel to Podgorica for meetings with Montenegrin State Chief Jakov Milatović and Prime Minister Milojko Spajić. (October 24)