European and Western Balkan leaders met on Friday (June 5) in the Montenegrin coastal town of Tivat to discuss EU enlargement.

Enlargement has risen up the EU agenda due to Russia's war against Ukraine, with Kyiv keen to join the bloc to anchor itself in Europe's political mainstream and EU officials declaring that the union should expand to reduce the influence of foreign powers in its neighbourhood.

But the process of joining is usually long and complex, involving years of negotiations and legal reforms, with approval of all 27 current EU members required to complete each step.

On the eve of the summit, Germany and France proposed giving aspiring EU members more opportunities to join EU programs and access the single market before joining the bloc.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

TIVAT, MONTENEGRO (JUNE 5, 2026) (EUROPEAN UNION - Access all)

1. EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT, URSULA VON DER LEYEN, GREETING DUTCH PRIME MINISTER ROB JETTEN

2. ROUND TABLE

3. VON DER LEYEN WALKING BY

4. JETTEN IN CONVERSATION WITH LUXEMBOURG'S PRIME MINISTER LUC FRIEDEN

5. GERMAN CHANCELLOR FRIEDRICH MERZ BEING GREETED BY MONTENEGRO'S PRESIDENT JAKOV MILATOVIC

6. ROUND TAB LE

7. VON DER LEYEN SITTING

8. FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON LAUGHING WITH CYPRUS' PRESIDENT NIKOS CHRISTODOULIDES AND POLISH PRIME MINISTER DONALD TUSK

9. ROUND TABLE

10. MACRON TALKING TO SERBIAN PRESIDENT ALEKSANDAR VUCIC

11. EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANTONIO COSTA NEXT TO MILATOVIC AND MONTENEGRO PRIME MINISTER MILOJKO SPAJIC

12. MERZ IN CONVERSATION WITH GREEK PRESIDENT CONSTANTINE TASSOULAS

13. COSTA NEXT TO MILATOVIC

14. VUCIC TALKING TO MACRON

15. ROUND TABLE

16. CHRISTODOULIDES GREETING ALBANIA'S PRIME MINISTER EDI RAMA

17. MACRON IN CONVERSATION WITH FRIEDEN

18. AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR CHRISTIAN STOCKER IN CONVERSATION

19. VARIOUS OF COSTA AND MILATOVIC SITTING AT TABLE