Doorstep by President von der Leyen ahead of the EU-Western Balkans Summit

Good morning, it is good to be here for the EU-Western Balkans Summit. It is, in the last six months, the second time that we are meeting our Western Balkan partners. And a lot is going on. We are going to discuss two topics. One is the Growth Plan and the other enlargement.

The Growth Plan is working well. It has the principle that the European Union opens sectors of the Single Market, and for that the candidate country has to do reforms to have a level playing field. But with the reforms also comes investment. It is working insofar as we have invested now €675 million, next tranche is already on its way with €540 million.

The second topic will be enlargement; enlargement is merit-based, but merit-based does not mean slow. We have to make the enlargement process faster and more credible. In other words, if the candidate country delivers on reforms, it has to move forward in closing and opening chapters and clusters on its path forward towards the European Union.

And the enlargement process has to be more visible. The candidate countries have to explain to their people the benefits of enlargement, but on our side, the Member States also have to explain to our people the benefits of enlargements. And that is the strategic component. Enlargement means more security, more prosperity, and a bigger place of Europe in the world.

There is momentum. We have to turn this momentum now into movement, and this movement into membership.