THIS WEEK: EU enlargement report tops Brussels agenda as ‘coalition of the willing’ faces Trump’s midterm test

The state of accession talks with Ukraine, Moldova, and the Western Balkans is likely to be the main topic next week, with the European Commission to publish its country reports and accession roadmaps for the EU’s candidate countries. Though talks aimed at aligning their national laws with the EU’s acquis communautaire started with Ukraine and Moldova earlier this year, while Montenegro is the most advanced in terms of meeting the requirements to join the bloc. At a summit in Berlin on 22 October, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Montenegro had made significant progress on its European path and that membership in the European Union was a realistic goal. He pointed out that the country has almost completed the accession negotiations. For his part, Milojko Spajić, prime minister of Montenegro, stated that the country “is determined to earn its place in the European Union through reforms and turn the progress it is making into an opportunity for the entire Western Balkans”. Albania will also receive its report card, amid anti-government riots. The process of integrating the Western Balkan states into the EU has been painfully slow, particularly in the case of Serbia, the largest country in the region. But the decisive win for the Student List movement in Serbia’s 25 October elections, which ousted pro-Russian former president Aleksandar Vučić, is being seen by some as potentially putting Serbia back on track to become an EU member.