New German government firmly backs the European perspective of the Western Balkans


Berlin – The new German government firmly backs the European perspective of the Western Balkans, taking into consideration the continuing importance of the EU’s enlargement policy for promoting peace, stability, and cooperation.

This is part of the draft coalition agreement between CDU/CSU and SPD, German daily Die Welt reports, pointing out that final details were now being added to the text of the contract.

“The EU’s enlargement policy remains important for promoting peace, stability and cooperation,” the draft agreement states. “At the same time, the EU has to ensure its ability to act through internal reforms. We support the European accession perspective of the Western Balkans region and pay special attention to the development of democracy and rule of law.”

The text underlines that progress towards EU accession will be made only when individual countries have met the criteria for membership.