Von der Leyen skips Belgrade and Sarajevo on Balkan tour

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will visit the Western Balkans from September 30 to October 2, but her itinerary does not include two capitals — Belgrade and Sarajevo. The news was confirmed today in Brussels by European Commission spokesperson Ariana Podesta.

“Given the upcoming parliamentary and general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, the president intends to visit those countries later, on another date,” Podesta said.

During the tour, von der Leyen will stop in Tirana, Prishtina, Podgorica and Skopje, where she will meet with top state officials and visit projects funded by the European Union. The focus of the talks, according to the spokesperson, will be “the next steps on our partners’ path toward the EU and the progress achieved in gradual integration.”

This will be the sixth consecutive year that the European Commission president visits the region. At the last EU leaders’ summit, in June, she declared that “Europe will not be complete without the Western Balkans.”

Source: Danas