European leaders used a summit in Montenegro on Friday to dangle the carrot of a quicker path into the EU for Balkan countries, some of which have been waiting to join for decades.

During the EU-Western Balkans Summit, senior bloc figures stressed the need to speed up the accession process for candidate countries -- including six Balkan nations.

"We must make the enlargement process faster and more credible," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in the small town of Tivat.

"Enlargement is for us a geostrategic imperative, as well as a long-term investment in our peace, our stability and our security," von der Leyen said, acknowledging that the accession process had to "become more dynamic".

Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia all seek EU membership.

France and Germany seized on the Tivat meeting to push the idea of "gradual integration" into the 27-member bloc.

"Together with Germany we have proposed a strengthened gradual integration process," French President Emmanuel Macron told journalists as he arrived at the summit.

He said the proposal could mean that a country that aligns itself with the EU on certain criteria would be allowed to join certain bloc formats, for example, attending European Council meetings.

"A merit-based process does not mean a slow process; it means that, on the side of the EU institutions as well as on the side of the candidate states, everyone must work faster and harder, and that is our commitment," said European Council President Antonio Costa.

Although Brussels has long said all the remaining Balkan nations would be accepted together, Montenegro and Albania are increasingly emerging as the frontrunners to join the bloc first - ahead of countries like Serbia and Bosnia, which lag on the required reforms. (AFP)



Edited by Robert Kemp