Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president | Denis Lovrovic/AFP via Getty Images Von der Leyen: EU must keep its promise to North Macedonia and Albania Commission president says she’s ‘deeply convinced’ that the bloc should continue with the enlargement process.

ZAGREB — Ursula von der Leyen chose Croatia, the EU's newest member state, to deliver a message to the Balkans: the EU must keep its promises on enlargement.

"We asked them to do a lot, they fulfilled the criteria so now we have to deliver and to keep our promises," the president of the European Commission said, referring to North Macedonia and Albania. Both countries were given the green light to start EU accession talks but saw that journey grind to a halt because of reluctance in the European Council, especially from France, which has fears about the impact of further enlargement on the EU decision-making process.

Von der Leyen was speaking alongside Andrej Plenković, the prime minister of Croatia, marking the start of the country’s first turn heading the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU since it joined the bloc in 2013.

"The next months will of course be particularly crucial for relationships with the Balkans," she said, referring to a proposal on how to improve the enlargement process that the Commission is expected to put forward. In November, Paris presented its own proposals on how to change the rules to join the EU.

At a meeting of EU leaders in October, they decided to "revert to the issue of enlargement before the EU-Western Balkans summit in Zagreb in May 2020." The leaders are expected to discuss the issue again in March.

The Zagreb summit "will be a potential milestone in this process," von der Leyen said, warning that "we still have to do a lot of work."

She said the EU will "reflect how we can improve the accession process" but added: "I’m deeply convinced that this should not keep us from taking on the accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania."

Von der Leyen also said there will be a donors' conference on February 17 after an earthquake in Albania in November that killed around 50 people.