BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Tuesday praised Ukraine’s progress on reform to join the bloc despite concerns over its efforts to tackle corruption, and issued tough warnings to candidates Serbia and Georgia about democratic backsliding.

In a series of enlargement reports, the bloc’s executive branch, the European Commission, also said that Montenegro could wrap up its EU membership talks by the end of next year, leaving it first in line to become the 28th member country.

The annual reports on 10 countries, most of them in the Western Balkans, come with the EU’s enlargement process all but stalled. Croatia was the last country to join, 12 years ago.

France, notably, has insisted that the EU is too unwieldy and must itself reform before taking more countries on board. National vet

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