Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic has left for Paris to submit the country's formal application for European Union membership to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a government official said today.

The move by Montenegro, a country of just 650,000 people on the Adriatic Sea, is expected to encourage Balkan neighbours such as Albania and Serbia to file EU applications in coming months.

The government of Montenegro decided on Thursday to officially submit the bid to France, current holder of the EU presidency.

A meeting with Sarkozy is scheduled at midday, the government official told Reuters, adding that EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn would also attend. Djukanovic and Rehn were to give a joint news conference later in the day.

"By taking this step, Montenegro commits itself to the accession process and the building of a united Europe which is a strategic goal in which the founders of the European Community invested their vision and commitment," the government press office said in a statement.

All states across the Balkans, a region still recovering from wars and political turmoil in the 1990s, plan to join the EU. Macedonia was the last Balkan country to apply for EU membership in 2004.

Rehn said in an Oslo speech last week that Montenegro had made progress on reforms, but still had further to go before it would qualify.

Montenegro initially planned to apply for EU membership during the Slovenian presidency earlier this year, but postponed its move at the request of the EU.