(Bloomberg) -- Montenegro’s ambition to become a member of the European Union by 2028 is “reachable,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday.
“It is a very ambitious goal, and it is reachable,” von der Leyen said in Podgorica, the country’s capital. She added it is essential to focus on 2028 “to have done all the necessary steps so that the Commission can say you reached your goal and we can recommend accession.”
Von der Leyen was speaking at a joint press conference with Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milojko Spajic on the final leg of her western Balkans tour, which also included five countries that have aspirations to join the bloc — Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo.
Montenegro recently emerged as the front-runner among six Balkan nations, which are all in various stages of the negotiation process. The former Yugoslav republic of 600,000 people voted in a referendum in 2006 to become independent from Serbia and started EU talks in 2012.
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