President Costa travelling to the Western Balkans to reaffirm EU’s commitment to the region and co-host the EPC summit

The President of the European Council, António Costa, will head to the Western Balkans throughout next week (12-16 May 2025) to meet with the political leadership of the Western Balkan partners and co-host the sixth European Political Community summit in Tirana (16 May 2025). President Costa will be stressing the importance of building further on the renewed momentum in the enlargement process and the EU- Western Balkans relations.

President Costa will visit the six Western Balkans partners, officially starting in Belgrade on Tuesday 13 May. He will be meeting President Vučić, Prime Minister Macut, and Members of the Parliament. The same day he will head to Sarajevo where he will be addressing the troops of EUFOR Althea and meeting with Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On Wednesday 14 May, President Costa will arrive in Podgorica where he will meet with President Milatović, Prime Minister Spajić and other members of the government. He will then visit Pristina to meet President Osmani-Sadriu. The next day, 15 May, President Costa will head to Skopje to meet with Prime Minister Mickoski and President Siljanovska-Davkova. His final stop in the Western Balkans will be in Tirana where on 15 May he will meet with Prime Minister Rama and President Begaj and participate in a meeting with students of the College of Europe.

On Friday 16 May, President Costa will co-host the sixth European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Tirana. The EPC meetings bring together countries on the European continent and provide a platform for deeper political coordination. This summit's theme is "New Europe in a New World: Unity - Cooperation - Joint Action". The meeting will focus on security and leaders will share their vision for the future of Europe, followed by three thematic roundtables.

Press opportunities

President Costa will host joint press conferences in all six capitals he will be visiting.

Indicative schedule (all timings are local)

Tuesday 13 May
09:30 Joint press conference with President Vučić (Belgrade, Palace of Serbia)
17:20 Joint press conference with the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo, BiH Presidency)

Wednesday 14 May
11:15 Joint press conference with President Milatović (Podgorica, Vila Gorica)
16:45 Joint press conference with President Osmani (Pristina)

Thursday 15 May
11:15 Joint press conference with Prime Minister Mickoski (Skopje)
16:40 Joint press conference with Prime Minister Rama (Tirana)

Videos and photos of the visits will be available in the Council newsroom.

• Western Balkans (background information)
• EU-Western Balkans relations (background information)
• EU enlargement (background information)