{"id":457470,"date":"2026-06-19T19:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/19\/anche-balcani-occidentali-allargamento-e-traffico-di-droghe-nelle-conclusioni-del-consiglio-europeo\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T19:51:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:51:42","slug":"the-western-balkans-enlargement-and-drug-trafficking-were-also-addressed-in-the-european-councils-conclusions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/19\/the-western-balkans-enlargement-and-drug-trafficking-were-also-addressed-in-the-european-councils-conclusions\/","title":{"rendered":"The Western Balkans, enlargement, and drug trafficking were also addressed in the European Council\u2019s conclusions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The Western Balkans, enlargement, Ebola, and drug trafficking<\/strong>. These are the other issues, alongside macroeconomic imbalances, the European Union\u2019s multiannual budget, and Ukraine, that were addressed and emerged<\/a> <\/span>in the final conclusions of the European Council held yesterday and today (18\u201319 June). \u201cAccession negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova, Albania and Montenegro have made significant progress over the past six months<\/strong>,\u201d stated<\/a> Nikos Christodoulides<\/strong><\/span><\/strong>, President of Cyprus, which holds the six-month presidency of the Council of the EU until 30 June, during the final press conference alongside <\/span>President of the European Council, <\/span>Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/strong><\/span><\/strong>, and the President of the <\/span>European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong><\/span><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/span><\/strong>The final text states that \u201cin<\/span> light of the new impetus for enlargement and building on the <\/span><\/strong>2023 Granada Declaration” (a strategic document setting out <\/span>the political priorities for the EU\u2019s future, focusing on strategic autonomy, competitiveness, and preparedness for enlargement), the discussions and possible reforms have been postponed until the next European Council meeting in October. However, the leaders welcomed<\/span><\/strong> the \u201cIntergovernmental Conference on the Republic of Moldova\u2019s accession to the EU and the launch of the thematic group on fundamental principles on 15 June 2026.\u201d On this issue, Costa also reiterated that the aim is to complete the first cluster on the fundamentals for Ukraine and Moldova by the end of the year<\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

As regards the Western Balkans, the European Union\u2019s commitment to enlargement \u201cis based on the positive momentum generated by the progress made with Montenegro and Albania and by the success of the <\/strong> European Union summit on the Western Balkans in Tivat<\/a> (Montenegro)<\/strong>\u201d <\/strong>on 5 June, according to what was noted <\/a>by the President of the European Council. Today\u2019s European Council conclusions emphasise that it will now be necessary to continue \u201cworking closely\u201d with the six countries concerned (Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Kosovo), as well as \u201csupporting them in their reform efforts on the path to EU accession.\u201d It will therefore be necessary to \u201cpromote the gradual integration between the European Union and the region during the enlargement process itself, in a meritocratic and reversible manner.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Summit\u2019s conclusions also address Ebola and its spread in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The EU-27 have called for <\/strong><\/span>\u201cthe rapid allocation of emergency funds by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other European and international partners<\/strong><\/span>.\u201d According to the leaders, this will enable \u201can immediate response, including epidemiological surveillance, contact tracing, clinical preparedness, and increased laboratory capacity.\u201d Furthermore, financial and logistical assistance has been arranged to support \u201cthe work of the WHO, the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and other humanitarian and health workers on the front line in coordinating and implementing urgent containment and response measures.\u201d Consequently, the European Council has called on \u201cthe Council and the Commission to monitor the situation and its development and, where appropriate, to define and coordinate the relevant operational priorities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 On the subject of \u201cthe growing health, social, and security challenges linked to the use and trafficking of illicit drugs,\u201d the European Council emphasised \u201cthe importance of tackling all aspects of the drug phenomenon with a comprehensive approach.\u201d <\/span>Costa noted that <\/strong>\u201cthis fight must be pursued at all levels: local, national, European, and international<\/strong>.\u201dAccording to the final text, this includes \u201cimproving preparedness, safeguarding public health, strengthening security, preventing drug-related harm and promoting European and international partnerships and cooperation initiatives, such as the European Coalition against Drugs, as well as law enforcement cooperation with third countries.\u201d The European Council also considers that \u201ccoherent action will be required vis-\u00e0-vis third countries that harbour drug traffickers and fail to fulfil their obligations under international law.\u201d Accordingly, the European Council \u201ctakes note of the intention of the Commission and the High Representative to present a proposal for a new regime of horizontal sanctions targeting transnational criminal groups,\u201d and calls for \u201cthe effective implementation of the EU drugs strategy, in line with the implementation framework agreed by the Council.\u201d To this end, the European Council urges \u201cthe Council, the Commission, the Member States, and the relevant EU agencies to strengthen coordination across all relevant policy areas. \u201cThis issue has a direct impact on the health, safety, and security of our citizens<\/strong><\/span>,” Costa concluded at a press conference. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christodoulides, the President of Cyprus, currently holding the six-month presidency of the Council of the EU, said: \u201cAccession negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, and Montenegro have made significant progress over the past six months.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":457402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[34242,27334,27335,34048,34533,34534,33394,26030],"class_list":["post-457470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-ebola","tag-enlargement","tag-council-en","tag-hantavirus","tag-moldavia","tag-traffico-droghe","tag-ue","tag-western-balkans-en-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457471,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457470\/revisions\/457471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}