Kurz: We warmly welcome the Skopje-Athens agreement

The agreement reached between Skopje and Athens shows that persistent negotiations and diplomacy work, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said in the interview with the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, noting that Austria supports EU enlargement in the Western Balkans.

“We warmly welcome the agreement between the two sides. It shows that persistent negotiations and diplomacy work. For Austria, the Western Balkans is a key priority of its foreign and European policy, and also its EU presidency. Austria supports EU enlargement in the Western Balkans as presented by the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn. Providing honest prospects and a credible path to the EU for the countries of the Western Balkans will serve the bloc’s political, economic and security interests,” Kurz said.

“The EU-Turkey negotiations should stop immediately,” he said, adding that Turkey has steadily moved away from Europe and its values in recent years.