Summit leaders for Western Balkans meet in Poznan

The issue of the start of Albania and Northern Macedonia's EU accession talks will be at the centre of a meeting of the heads of state and government of the Berlin Process on the last day of the summit for the Western Balkans, under way in Poznan, west of Poland.

Friday's meeting will be attended, among other leaders, by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish President Andreze Duda, Polish Prime Minister Matthews Morawicki, French Prime Minister Eduard Philippe and British Prime Minister Theresa May, as well as prime ministers of Western Balkan countries.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski wet Sek, responsible for organising the summit, said Friday's “meeting would sum up actions taken within the Berlin Process to date and set plans for the future”.

“A positive political atmosphere about decisions related to the Western Balkans is necessary”, he said.

“We want summit participants to agree to open accession negotiations in October, while Poland is a lawyer of this solution and we will try to convince other leaders to approve it”, Szynkowski added.

According to him, the meeting will not make any formal decisions.

The Berlin process is an intergovernmental initiative led by Germany to promote European Union expansion with the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia and Serbia) and strengthen regional co-operation.

The initiative includes eight EU countries -- Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Great Britain.

Poland joined the project last year and assumed its presidency in January.