European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker is to visit Western Balkans capitals amid wider efforts to counter Russian and Chinese influence there.
His trip, from 26 February to 1 March, will take in Belgrade, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje, and Tirana before concluding in Sofia, which currently holds the EU presidency.
A senior EU source said Juncker was going because "the Western Balkans is strategically very important, it will sooner or later join the EU".
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.