EU foreign ministers are meeting on November 13 in Brussels with their Western Balkan counterparts to discuss topics of common interest including some of the countries' progress toward EU membership following last week's release of the annual report by the bloc's executive body.
Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell, who will chair the meeting, said that one of the main sticking points to be tackled during the meeting will be some of the Western Balkan candidates' failure to properly align themselves with the bloc's policy on sanctions following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
"We will insist on the need to closely monitor our foreign policy," Borrell said, adding, "some countries [in the region] have not aligned with our foreign policy and sanctions."
Speaking ahead of the meeting, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the perspective of EU membership also represents a guarantee of security for potential members.
"That is why it is so crucial that in these times that we understand that enlargement is a geopolitical issue, that there must be no gray areas for peace and security in Europe," Baerbock said.
Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia have all been granted EU candidate status.
Kosovo applied for membership in December and is a potential candidate for membership in the 27-member bloc.
The European Commission's report found that Western Balkan states such as Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia largely cooperate and coordinate their foreign policy and sanctions regime with Brussels, with the exception of Serbia and to a certain degree, Bosnia.
Although Kosovo has no formal obligation yet to adhere to the bloc's policies, it has voluntarily backed the EU's foreign policy, including sanctions against Russia, the report assessed.
Ahead of the November 13 meeting, seven EU member states -- Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, and Slovakia -- circulated a nonpaper -- a discussion paper that is not part of formal negotiations -- proposing that Western Balkans representatives be more often invited to meetings with their EU counterparts, including informal sessions twice a year.
The nonpaper also urged that contentious issues between Western Balkan countries, especially the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, be negotiated and solved through more dialogue and cooperation.
Serbia has not recognized the independence of its former province of Kosovo and tensions between the two neighbors have been high in recent months, with Belgrade alleging that Kosovo's ethnic Serb minority has been discriminated against.