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The European Union should admit Montenegro and Albania by 2028, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said on Friday ahead of a summit of EU and Western Balkan leaders in the Montenegrin coastal city of Tivat.

Babiš said the accession process for Western Balkan countries has taken far too long. The region includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.

While the EU accelerated enlargement efforts after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some Balkan leaders remain frustrated by the slow pace of negotiations and fear Ukraine could be prioritised in the accession process.

The Czech government will decide on June 22 who will represent the country at July’s NATO summit, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš announced on Friday.

President Petr Pavel, who has attended every NATO summit since taking office, insists on being part of the delegation. Babiš argues that defence spending should be presented by the government and has previously said the president should not attend. Pavel is due to join a cabinet meeting on June 8 to discuss coordination at major international summits.

Pavel says both he and the prime minister could attend, each focusing on different aspects of the summit. He is reportedly prepared to file a constitutional complaint if he is excluded.

Dagmar Havlová has withdrawn from a cooperation agreement linked to the Václav Havel Library project, following the earlier departures of major donors Zdeněk Bakala and Karel Komárek. Havlová said her decision was prompted by recent developments at the library, including the suspension of director Tomáš Sedláček by the board of trustees. Most board members subsequently resigned, leaving only one member on both the supervisory and trustees’ boards. Havlová co-founded the library in 2004 after Václav Havel left office. Funding for the institution remains secured for this year.

All European Union member states, including Czechia, have given the green light to opening the first cluster of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said on Wednesday. The move clears the way for formal talks on issues related to the rule of law and democratic standards. Ukraine officially launched EU accession negotiations in June 2024. Progress had previously been blocked by Hungary, whose opposition eased after a recent agreement with Kyiv on Hungarian minority rights. The decision marks another step forward in Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union.