Today (30 September), the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will travel to the Western Balkans for her sixth annual tour of the region. During the tour, she will visit Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia. Her engagements will focus on the next steps needed for advancing on our partners’ EU path and ongoing process of gradual integration, assisted by the EU’s €6 billion Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.
President von der Leyen will begin the annual tour in Tirana on Wednesday, where she will hold talks with President Bajram Begaj and Prime Minister Edi Rama. On Thursday, President von der Leyen will head to Pristina, where she will meet with Acting President Albulena Haxhiu and Prime Minister Albin Kurti. Later that day, in Podgorica, the President will meet President Jakov Milatović and Prime Minister Milojko Spajić. The visit will conclude on Friday in Skopje, where President von der Leyen will hold meetings with President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova and Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski.
President von der Leyen will also visit EU-funded projects in the region: the Emin Duraku school in Tirana rebuilt after suffering damage in the 2019 earthquake, new premises of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences in Pristina, and railway corridor VIII in North Macedonia. In Podgorica, she will take part in the inauguration of the National Coordination Centre, a new operational hub strengthening Montenegro’s border management and enabling better information exchange with EU Member States and Frontex.
Throughout the tour, the President will hold press conferences, which will be broadcast on EBS.
In light of the upcoming parliamentary and general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as in Serbia, the President intends to visit these countries at a later date.
On multiple occasions this year, including her 2026 State of the Union address and her speech at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tivat, President von der Leyen has emphasized the importance of the region, as well as that of completing our Union with the joining of our Western Balkans partners. This year’s visit by the President to the Western Balkans follows those of 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021.