Germany, France strengthen engagement in Balkans

Germany and France want to strengthen their co-operation for the stability of the Western Balkan region through a regional agenda in the social development, security, defence and justice sector.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will strengthen their engagement in the Western Balkans. “We feel responsible for the European perspective of these countries”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin at a joint conference with French President Emmanuel Macro, on the eve of the summit between the leaders of Germany, France, Western Balkan countries and Slovenia and Croatia, as well as the representative of the EU Commission on Foreign Affairs, Federica Moghriini.

Both stressed that the summit was not intended to find a solution to open problems, but simply to talk openly about problems in the region. We wanted to make sure the problems were not as inconsistent as they looked at”, the Chancellor said. She cited the Kosovo customs issue towards Serbia and Bosnia as a “development not in the right direction.

As for resolving Kosovo's problem, both said they did not want to offer concrete solutions, but Merkel stressed that the solution should be good for the whole region: “there can be no agreement on the consequences of which other countries could suffer”, Merkel said. Both cited resolving the Northern Macedonia conflict as a positive example.

Macron warned of a return to French engagement in the Balkans, as in the years of the Balkans, Macron said a regional agenda, regardless of enlargement, and said the agenda consists of four sectors: Social development, security, which enters the fight against illegal arms trafficking, against organised crime, terrorism and irregular immigration, defence, where the European peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina enters, as well as the justice sector and strengthening co-operation in the fight against economic criminality. Macron said he is convinced that “instability is realised with a regional agenda”.

Merkel and Macron stressed that the Berlin summit does not replace either the “Berlin Process” nor the EU enlargement negotiations. Previously, the German Chancellor had had bilateral conversations with Northern Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Albania's Edi Rama. / DW/