Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that it was in the interest of Germany And Europe for other countries Balkans to join the European Union.
Speaking to Parliament ahead of the 27-nation bloc’s one-day summit in Brussels, Scholz welcomed the resumption of EU accession negotiations with the six Western Balkan countries in recent months, as well as the decision taken this week to grant candidate status to Bosnia.
“It is in our German and European interest that the rest of the Balkans become part of the European Union,” he told Berlin parliamentarians.
Scholz also welcomed the decision to allow Croatia to join Europe’s identity-check free travel zone, and said Bulgaria and Romania should “soon follow”.
Austria has so far blocked the two countries’ attempt to join the so-called Schengen area.
