TIRANA, Albania (AP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to Albania on Tuesday to urge leaders in the western Balkan region to strengthen their regional unity in their quest for European Union membership.
Merkel praised their cooperation, saying “the more cooperation you have, the better Berlin will be.” The Berlin Path is a program launched in 2014 to promote regional integration between the West Balkans.
“From the point of view of geo, the EU, or Germany, is only interested in becoming a member of the (western Balkan regions) in the EU,” he told a news conference.
The regions of the western Balkans – including Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – are in various categories on the way to EU membership. Their progress on integration has been delayed recently due to the bloc’s influence on expansion and the years of peace that the EU has experienced since Britain’s departure.
Following the velocation of the EU member in Bulgaria, the establishment of EU membership negotiations in Albania and North Macedonia has been suspended, although they have already achieved this.
“The EU has to keep its promise and it will not have new things over and over again because it has no interest – perhaps for domestic reasons in other countries – to promote its participation. This is frustrating and I understand this frustration,” Merkel said. “We need to trust each other.”
At Belgrade’s Serbian capital, which Merkel visited on Monday, she noted the presence of other Balkan ethnic groups, such as Russia and China.
Merkel will be sorely missed in the region, according to the Albanian leader.
“In the history of the region, Angela Merkel has set the stage for the next few decades,” said Prime Minister Edi Rama.
But Merkel reassured her audience that “every German chancellor should have a passion for the region” as more and more people from the region now live and work in Germany, the richest economy in the EU.
Merkel did not run in the by-elections this year after leading Germany since 2005. Germany is holding elections on September 26.
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Kristen Grieshaber contributed from Berlin.