The USA is increasing its engagement in the Western Balkans, Assistant State Secretary Wess Mitchell said during the Senate’s hearing on the US European policy, Serbian media reported.

He further added, he is concerned over current protests in Greece and Macedonia as well as potential Russian influence following a decade long name-dispute solution between the two countries. He also added, the USA intensified communication with Serbia and Kosovo, and is promoting reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic stressed on Thursday that his country's "key and overarching goal" is full membership to the EU.

Another goal is to open as many EU accession negotiations chapter as possible as soon as possible, Dacic told a meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative and the Ministerial Meeting of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region, held in Catania, Sicily.

Eduard Kukan, a Member of the European Parliament and in charge of its relations with Serbia, said today the French President’s statement that it was not a good time for the European Union’s enlargement was only one of the suggestions in talks about the bloc's future.

Kukan told Belgrade-based daily Vecernje novosti President Emmanuel Macron’s opinion that there should not be any European Union enlargement until the block reformed itself was not shared by everyone within the Union.

Concerns over rule of law and corruption, plus enlargement fatigue, meant the six countries got little from Sofia summit

Keep waiting in line, but don’t expect the door to open any time soon. That was the message delivered on Thursday to six Balkan states hoping to join the EU.

At summit with regional leaders, French president says thoughts of enlargement have ‘weakened Europe.’

SOFIA — French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday sounded a skeptical note on enlarging the European Union to include countries from the western Balkans — at a summit meant to strengthen ties between the region and the EU.

The European Union today welcomed the commitment of the Western Balkans to shared European values, including democracy and the rule of law and reaffirmed its unequivocal support for the region’s European perspective.

EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia is a signal and a message there is a perspective for the Western Balkans, Centre of Foreign Policy Director Aleksandra Joksimovic told RTS.

Speaking for the RTS news edition, Joksimovic said the EU went through number of crisis and was focused on its internal affairs. She added a period of EU consolidation is expected, however, the EU realized it has to bring its focus back to the Western Balkans region.

The EastWest Institute, together with the National Committee on American Foreign Policy issued a report examining the need for immediate, decisive action by the United States and the European Union to address pressing issues and prevent potential conflict in the Western Balkans. The Western Balkans—Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, and Serbia—are once again an area of concern owing to deficient internal governance, economic challenges, intraregional ethnic frictions and external influences.

The forthcoming European Union Summit on Western Balkans in Sofia will be an incentive to linkage and enlargement, but the potential candidate countries still face a number of obstacles, a conference in Belgrade has been told on Monday.

The issue of enlargement was back on the EU’s agenda thanks to the Bulgarian presidency over the block, the country’s envoy to Belgrade Radko Vlajkov told the “EU Summit – Western Balkans: Where is the enlargement there?” conference.

The EFJ has launched a video campaign to raise awareness about the poor working conditions of journalists and media workers in the Western Balkans and Turkey.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) said in a press release, that this state of affairs was documented by the European Commission’s Enlargement package 2018 published in April 2018.