German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he will travel to the Western Balkans before a meeting of the European Council takes place next month, bearing the message that the region belongs in the European Union, writes Aljazeera
The six Western Balkan countries with EU membership aspirations – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia – have been engaged in a years-long reform process, Scholz told legislators in Berlin.
“Honouring our commitments to them is not just a question of our credibility. Today more than ever, their integration is also in our strategic interests,” he said, pointing to the influence of “external powers” in the region, including Russia.
Scholz had in April called for Western Balkan countries’ efforts to join the EU to be accelerated amid a “new era” in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In October last year, EU leaders at a summit in Slovenia only reiterated their “commitment to the enlargement process” in a statement that disappointed the six candidates for EU membership who had hoped for a concrete timetable.
The German chancellor said he would be attending the EU summit at the end of May “with the clear message that the Western Balkans belong in the European Union”.
