The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen  starts a four-day visit to North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina today.

The visits are seen as an opportunity to discuss bilateral cooperation and to present the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans in more detail to regional leaders.

On Sunday, von der Leyen will meet with the president of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, and with the prime minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, in Skopje.

Later in the day, she will travel to Prishtina, where she will meet with President Vjosa Osmani and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.

On Tuesday morning, the visit will move to Podgorica, Montenegro, where she will meet with President Jakov Milatović and the acting Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazović.

In the afternoon, President von der Leyen will travel to Belgrade, where she will meet with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, and Prime Minister Ana Brnabić.

Finally, on Wednesday, President von der Leyen will meet in Sarajevo with the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The visit follows President von der Leyen’s meetings in Albania at the beginning of this month, on October 15-16, where she participated in the inauguration of the liaison office of the College of Europe in Tirana and the Berlin Process Summit.

/k.s/