The European Commission adopted its 2026 Enlargement Package on Wednesday, the annual assessment of the countries negotiating their way into the European Union. This year's edition comes with something new: indicative roadmaps for the four most advanced candidates — Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine — setting concrete milestones for the next twelve months. The Commission says it may adjust them as reforms progress, and that similar roadmaps could be proposed for other candidates once they reach a comparable stage.
The roadmaps give "a clear path for the year ahead and a firm anchor for the upcoming negotiations", Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas summed up the political case for the package: "enlargement is a direct investment in Europe's security".
The Council of the European Union — where the 27 national governments sit — now examines the recommendations and decides the next steps.
Montenegro is closest to the line
Montenegro has provisionally closed 21 negotiating chapters and could close the remaining ones by the end of 2026, subject to member states' agreement. Work on its accession treaty is under way, and the Commission presented the financial package for the country's entry on Wednesday.
Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said Montenegro is close to completing its integration, and that Albania, Moldova and Ukraine "could join the European Union in the coming years" if reforms continue.
Three declared deadlines: 2027, 2028 and 2028
- Albania opened its last remaining cluster of chapters and met the interim benchmarks on the rule of law chapters, clearing the way to provisionally close four chapters. The country intends to conclude negotiations in 2027. The Commission also noted the largest civic mobilisation in Albania since its democratic transition.
- Moldova opened four clusters over the past year and, in the Commission's assessment, meets the conditions to open all those still outstanding. Its declared target is early 2028.
- Ukraine also opened four clusters and, according to the Commission, meets the conditions to open the remaining ones, but still has to meet interim rule of law benchmarks and deliver on several sectoral roadmaps. The deadline the country states is the end of 2028.
One distinction is worth keeping in view: these dates are the candidates' own targets, not EU commitments. Accession requires a unanimous decision by the 27 and ratification in every member state — which makes the calendar an intention rather than a fixed date.
No progress in Serbia, Bosnia drifting away
Serbia made no substantive progress in the negotiations, the Commission concludes, pointing to growing polarisation, backsliding on fundamentals and low alignment with the bloc's Common Foreign and Security Policy. Progress, the text says, depends on the new government reversing those trends.
Bosnia and Herzegovina still declares European integration a strategic goal but is drifting away from that path, in the Commission's reading, which calls for the swift formation of executive and legislative bodies after the elections.
In North Macedonia, the constitutional amendments the country committed to remain unadopted, even though it ranks among the best performers under the Reform and Growth Facility. In Kosovo, EU-related reforms stalled during a prolonged institutional crisis, eased by an agreement on electing the president; the Commission lifted the measures it had been applying, following the transfer of local governance in the north of the territory, and says it stands ready to prepare an Opinion on Kosovo's membership application if the Council asks for one.
Georgia and Türkiye heading the other way
Georgia is the harshest case in the report. The Commission says its accession process is de facto halted and that the country remains a candidate in name only: it falls short of the nine steps set out when it was granted candidate status, amid continued erosion of democratic principles and the rule of law.
Türkiye remains a candidate and a strategic partner, but the Commission points to intensified legal action against officials, the opposition and civil society, and says the gap between the country's declared European goal and its democratic backsliding has widened. The issues that brought negotiations to a standstill in 2018 are still unresolved.
Integration before accession
The package also sets out a common framework for gradual integration: bringing candidates closer to strategic sectors — energy, transport, digital and defence — before formal entry. The Commission mapped the instruments that already exist and, over the next six months, will open gradual integration dialogues with each partner to review the measures in force and their financing.
With information from the European Commission and European Western Balkans.
