EU chief starts Balkans tour, says enlargement 'top priority'

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday pledged that membership expansion would be high on the Brussels agenda, as she arrived in Albania at the start of a tour of six Balkan nations hoping to join the bloc.

Von der Leyen, on her fourth visit to the region, will move on to North Macedonia on Thursday before taking in the other countries in the region. Public support for EU membership and the political will to implement reforms fell in some countries during that period.