ZAGREB, 23 June  2022- An EU-Western Balkans summit, which lasted more than three hours, ended in Brussels on Thursday without a joint statement and without a press conference.

The European Council President Charles Michel's cabinet said that a scheduled press conference was postponed due to the lack of time as the meeting lasted longer than planned and a joint declaration had not been planned at all.

Despite the absence of any results, Michel's associates said the "meeting went well."

The leaders of the 27 member states will begin their regular summit later this afternoon and are expected to give the green light for candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova.

These two countries will overtake Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo on the road to the EU, the only two Western Balkan countries that do not have candidate status as yet.

The EU promised the Western Balkans a European perspective back in 2003 at the Thessaloniki Summit.

The French presidency of the EU has been trying to lift Bulgaria's blockade of North Macedonia's progress on its path towards EU integrations. Skopje and Albania are awaiting a green-light to open accession talks.

However, those hopes were dashed by Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who said ahead of the Western Balkans summit that there was no prospect of unblocking and opening talks with North Macedonia at the summit, but hinted that a solution could be reached in the days to come.

Some proposals emerged saying that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be awarded candidate status, but there is no consensus on that.

The draft conclusions to be adopted by EU leaders during the summit reiterate "full and unambiguous commitment" to the perspective of the Western Balkans and call for accelerating the accession process.

At the insistence of Croatia, the draft conclusions call on BiH leaders to urgently deliver on their promise to complete constitutional and electoral reforms.

The draft conclusions welcome an agreement reached by BiH parliamentary party leaders at a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel on 12 June, in which they pledged, among other things, to implement limited constitutional and electoral reforms.

The European Council calls on Bosnia and Herzegovina's political leaders to immediately deliver on the promises made in the agreement and complete constitutional and electoral reforms, which will enable the country to make decisive progress on its European path, in line with the Commission's priorities, so that it can be awarded candidate status.

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ZAGREB, 11 Feb 2022 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who flew on Thursday evening to France for "The One Planet Summit for the Ocean", met European Council President Charles Michel ahead of the summit meeting, which is taking place in Brest on 9-11 February.

Plenković tweeted on his account that he and Charles Michel discussed Croatia's aspirations to join the Schengen Area and the euro area, and efforts to address energy price rises as well as the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the importance of the reform of that country's election legislation.

On Friday, PM Plenković and Croatian Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Tomislav Ćorić will participate in the summit, which is being held to mobilize the international community to take concrete action to reduce these adverse effects on the ocean.

French President Emmanuel Macron is the host of this summit.

Plenkovć is due to hold a speech on the protection of oceans and seas and the struggle against plastic pollution.

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May 24, 2021 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday after a meeting with the President of the European Council Charles Michel that the two condemned the forced landing of a Ryanair civil plane in Belarus and demanded an international investigation.

Plenković met with Michel in Brussels ahead of an EU summit.

Croatia's Prime Minister wrote on Twitter that he had spoken with Michel about "the fight against COVID-19, the vaccination process, Croatia's entry into the Schengen Area and the euro area and the continuation of enlargement."

"We condemn the unacceptable move by the Belarusian authorities and demand an international investigation," Plenković said.

Plenković then spoke with the Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson at the Commission's headquarters.

The two-day summit of the leaders of 27 EU member states starts on Monday evening, and the agenda includes meeting the set goals for climate protection, foreign policy issues, and the COVID-19 situation.

EU leaders will also address the unprecedented move by the Belarusian authorities, who on Sunday forced a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk and then arrested Roman Protasevich, one of the main opposition activists who were on board. It is expected that there will be a debate on measures the EU could introduce against the Belarusian regime.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.