The EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tivat, Montenegro (5 June 2026): Protocol Architecture of Enlargement, Gradual Integration and Regional Security

This WPA Working Paper examines the EU-Western Balkans Summit held in Tivat, Montenegro on 5 June 2026, with the official theme “Shared prosperity and stability of the EU and the Western Balkans.” The paper treats this summit as a protocol case study of enlargement diplomacy, gradual integration, regional security, candidate-country hosting and multilateral choreography. The central analytical concept is the “protocol geometry of enlargement” — the spatial, ceremonial, institutional and symbolic arrangement through which an accession process becomes visible in summit protocol. The paper analyses Montenegro’s dual protocol position as both host state and EU candidate country, and applies the WPA Protocol Soft Power Index (PSPI) in a source-disciplined qualitative capacity, without unsupported numerical scoring. The paper is published as World Protocol Academy Working Paper No. 008, Final author-reviewed edition v1.0. The upload includes separate English and Macedonian PDF versions, together with editable DOCX versions for archival and institutional use.