Germany backs Balkan EU membership

Germany has called on France and the Netherlands on Tuesday to allow negotiations for membership in the European Union with Albania and Macedonia in order to help stabilise the Western Balkans, as EU diplomats failed to reconcile the terms of the talks.

Paris and The Hague have been declared against broad EU efforts to open negotiations, with France saying the bloc needs to reform its institutions before new members' accession, Reuters reports.

But other countries, led by Berlin, have made great efforts to bring the six Western Balkan countries into the EU Bay to strengthen the bloc's influence in the region in the face of a category Russia.

The German government is ready to assist Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on their way to the European Union”, German EU Minister Michael Roth said after arriving at the meeting with his counterparts in Luxembourg, Coha.net broadcasts.

We're willing to give the green light. I would encourage our friends in Holland and France to join us”, he said before reporters, saying stability is the most important for the Balkans.

Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Serbia hope to join the EU.

While membership talks with Serbia and Montenegro are under way, Albania -- which is only part of NATO -- and Macedonia, which has resolved the name issue with Greece -- have hoped to receive permission for negotiations Tuesday.

But EU ambassadors preparing the meeting Monday evening failed to draft an agreement to be signed by the ministers.

France's President Emmanuel Macron, backed by the Netherlands, has said that the bloc must self-reform before accepting new members, although EU diplomats say Paris is mainly concerned about promoting anti-migration at home, Coha.net broadcasts.

Many European states, including Austria, which will lead the EU's rotary presidency from July, want to send a signal to Albania, Macedonia and other Western Balkan countries that the path towards EU membership is still open.

There has been much progress. This alone highlights our position that the Western Balkans should have a clear membership perspective”, said Austrian EU Minister Gernot Blumel