Montenegro is a front-runner in EU accession, Von der Leyen says

Montenegro expects to see investment worth 3 billion euros ($3.47 billion), Prime Minister Milojko Spajic said on Tuesday, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the country as a Western Balkans front-runner for EU accession.

Von der Leyen, who is visiting the region this week to promote an EU growth plan worth 6 billion euros, pledged to help the six Western Balkans nations form a regional common market and speed up the EU accession process by joining the European common market.

"The geopolitical momentum is now," she said, citing Russia's aggression against Ukraine. "Every European nation must choose its place and pick a side, and Montenegro has made its choice already very clearly."

Von der Leyen commended Montenegro as a front-runner in the EU accession process after closing four negotiating chapters last year and being on track to close another five chapters this year.

COUNTRY TARGETS EU ENTRY BY 2028

"And I know you are determined to close all chapters next year and to become ... the 28th by '28," she said at a news conference held with Spajic, referring to his expectation that Montenegro becomes the 28th EU member state by 2028.

On Monday, she announced an expected 4 billion euros in private investment for the region in the next decade.

Spajic told the conference on Tuesday that the country is aiming for 3 billion euros in private investment in infrastructure projects and green energy projects in the next years.

All six countries of the Western Balkans - Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia - were promised EU membership years ago but the accession process has slowed to a crawl. New momentum was created after Russia attacked Ukraine.

The delay is partly due to reluctance among the EU's 27 members and a lack of reforms required to meet EU standards - including those concerning the economy, judiciary, legal systems, environmental protection and media freedoms.

($1 = 0.8655 euros)