European Commission opens talks to include Western Balkans in 'Roam Like at Home' scheme
Negotiations with six partners aim to let Western Balkan citizens use mobile services in the EU without extra roaming fees after legal alignment and bilateral agreements.
The European Commission has opened formal negotiations with six Western Balkan partners to bring them into the EU’s "Roam Like at Home" scheme, a step that would let residents use mobile phones across the EU without paying additional roaming fees, the Commission said.
The talks cover North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. Inclusion in the scheme would allow citizens of those countries to make calls, send SMS and use mobile data in EU member states under the terms of their domestic subscription plans; EU citizens visiting the Western Balkans would enjoy the same rules when roaming there.
Procedure and legal alignment
To join the single roaming system, each Western Balkan economy must sign an individual agreement with the European Union and fully align its national roaming laws with EU rules. Once that alignment is confirmed, the Commission will ask the Council of the European Union to approve the country’s inclusion in the scheme.
The Commission’s decision to start negotiations follows a political green light from the Council of the EU in June 2026. The initiative was publicly announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her visit to the region in October 2026.
So far, the Commission has not set a deadline for concluding the negotiations nor named a specific date when extra roaming charges would be abolished. Observers expect any future accession pacts to be linked to the existing Stabilisation and Association Agreements between the EU and the Western Balkan states.
Photo: press material from the event
