EU Commission: President von der Leyen visiting the Western Balkans. Europe’s support to cope with the energy crisis

It is a complicated scenario, in the light of Russia’s energy blackmail and market manipulation in the Balkans, the one that inspired the visit of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who is going to the Western Balkans this week. The purpose of her trip is to bring the EU’s support to the Western Balkan partners to cope with high energy prices and improve their long-term energy security. Today, the president is in Skopje, in the Republic of North Macedonia, where she is meeting President Stevo Pendarovski and Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski. Tomorrow morning, von der Leyen will go to Pristina, in Kosovo, where President Vjosa Osmani-sadriu and Prime Minister Albin Kurti will be waiting for her. In the afternoon, she is expected to stop in Tirana, in Albania, to have talks with President Bajram Begaj and Prime Minister Edi Rama. On 28th October, the President of the European Commission will be in Sarajevo, in Bosnia Herzegovina, where she will be meeting the newly-elected members of the tripartite Presidency as well as Members of Parliament and publicly-appointed delegates. In the afternoon, von der Leyen will reach Belgrade, in Serbia, to talk with President Alexander Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic. In Serbia, the President will visit the Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnector, in the village of Jelasnica. The last stop of her tour of the Western Balkans will be Podgorica, in Montenegro, where von der Leyen will meet President Milo Djukanovic and Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic. She is also expected to visit the “Trans-Balkan Electricity Corridor: Grid Section in Montenegro” project.
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