The high-level Conference on the Western Balkans will take place on 24 June 2022 in Brussels, and will coincide with the second day of the planned session of the European Council on 23-24 June. This was confirmed to European Western Balkans from Brussels.
The conference will be held at a head of state/head of government level and will gather the 27 EU Member States, the Western Balkan 6 partners, and representatives of the EU institutions.
The sources of our portal confirm that the specific arrangements for the high-level conference are not yet validated at a political level and that there is only limited information on its context.
Based on limited information, the high-level conference will focus on three priority areas: energy, youth and security.
In the meantime, President of France Emmanuel Macron is expected to present to EU leaders his proposal for a “European Political Community”, which he announced in a speech on 9 May. Macron has since clarified that the proposal is not intended to be a substitute for EU Membership of the current candidate countries.
It is still not clear whether this topic would also be part of the discussion with WB leaders.
This high-level conference on the Western Balkans under the French Presidency is not to be confused with the next EU-Western Balkans Summit, to be organised under the Czech Presidency in the second half of 2022.
The regular EU-Western Balkans summits bring together leaders from EU member states and the six Western Balkans countries, with the participation of the President of the European Council and of the European Commission. The latest summit’s declaration, which took place in Slovenia in October 2021.
