Scholz: We are working hard to resolve the very difficult Kosovo situation- Serbia

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Berlin on Tuesday against the bilateralisation of the EU enlargement process.

Scholz said this in response to a question of the recent disputes between Greece and Albania, during the press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Social Democrat Chancellor stressed that in all disputes between countries of the region, Berlin is on the side of the EU membership process, because it wants membership candidates to achieve it as soon as possible.

“in the past, I have engaged a lot with different countries to ensure that there is no bilatheralisation that will hinder the progress of this process and we are working to keep this going in the future”, he said.

Scholz said it is necessary to move towards further approaching Western Balkan countries, which were given the promise of membership just 20 years ago at the Thessaloniki Summit 2003.

German Chancellor said he hopes to have <x0-progress and in the row between Northern Macedonia and Bulgaria”, while Highlight That “we are working hard to resolve the truly difficult situation between Kosovo and Serbia”.

“We are always on the side of the membership process”, the German Chancellor said.

Greece blocks Albania due to Fred Beler

The European Commission has recommended starting talks with Albania on three chapters by the end of 2023. These chapters are among the most important as they deal with democracy, the functioning of democratic institutions and public prosecutions.

For the talks to open, unanimous support of the 27 countries in the European Council of EU member states is needed.

On 11 November, Greece decided not to join other EU member states to meet the European Commission's request to the European Council for opening negotiations for the first three groups. The reason for this is the still holding of the elected mayor of the Himara municipality, Fred Beler.

The 52-year-old was arrested two days before the May 14th 2023 local elections and accused of selling votes. Greek authorities considered Frede Beler's arrest and imprisonment a <x0cension of rule of law, civil rights violations, disrespect of political rights”.

The two European leaders had met another day earlier in a small working group, with different leaders from several EU countries, such as Hungary, Cyprus, Slovakia, at a dinner that had hosted EU Council President Charles Michel in Berlin on Monday evening. Dinner was aimed at agreeing among countries on a range of issues related to the future of the EU. / DW