Ukraine could close seven EU negotiating chapters next year against 25 for Moldova, the European Commission said on November 4, telling Kyiv to speed up rule of law reforms.
European Commission set out ambitious targets for Albania, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine to advance their bids for EU membership, warned other candidates making little progress.
Prosecutors accuse the owner of Serbia's failed Alta banka of taking about €383mn in cash from its vault, a sum that would put it among Southeast Europe's biggest bank scandals.
Higher spending on wages, pensions and welfare will widen the Western Balkans' deficit to 2.8% of GDP this year, the World Bank said.
Household lending is outrunning corporate credit across much of the Western Balkans as bank profits soften, the World Bank said in its latest regional economic report.
The costs holding firms back lie in product rules, inspections, certification and restrictions on services.
Podgorica will not compromise on national interests in talks with Croatia, foreign minister says.
Aleksandar Vucic's election defeat could ease Serbia's quarrels with Bosnia, Kosovo and Montenegro and revive the stalled EU hopes of the whole Western Balkans, analysts say.
Remarks that the EU should stick to free trade and freedom of movement add to a long record of criticism of Brussels from Zoran Milanovic.
The defeat of Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia's October 25 election could undermine Russia's influence across the Western Balkans by depriving Moscow of its most important political ally in the region.
Change of government in Serbia could revive the country's stalled European Union membership bid and improve prospects for integration across the Western Balkans.
Serbia has met the terms to open the next block of its EU accession talks but member states are blocking it over backsliding on democracy, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said.
Consumption, investment and the prospect of EU accession buoy the EU-aspiring region, with growth expected at 3.2% this year, according to wiiw's forecast.
Region proved resilient to energy price shock triggered by the Iran war and increasingly dangerous geopolitical environment shaped by US foreign policy, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's growing economic influence.
Enlargement Commissioner said Montenegro must resolve bilateral issues with Croatia to secure unanimous support from EU member states, although these disputes are not formally part of the accession negotiations.
Ukraine and Moldova opened two more clusters of EU accession talks in Luxembourg on October 13, leaving only two of the six still closed to them, Ukraine's foreign ministry said.
Russia struck Kharkiv's CHP-5 power plant on October 11, shortly after US President Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Russian guided bombs that hit an apartment block in Zaporizhzhia on October 10 killed 20 people, including three children, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.
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The US licensed Russian diesel imports after a Trump-Putin deal, hours before Ukrainian drones set fire to a Rostov-on-Don terminal that ships Russian fuel.
The European Commission's plan for a wider EU only gives roadmaps to four frontrunners, offering six other hopefuls piecemeal access to EU policies instead.