West Balkan states may only join EU together – Scholz

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen welcomed the six West Balkan states to Berlin on Monday as part of the tenth Berlin Process summit.

The Berlin process aims to bring Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzgovenia, Albania and North Macedonia together to sign agreements to enable them to become EU member states. Five out of six agreements were signed, and restrictions on export from Serbia to Kosovo were lifted. 

Scholz underlined that the states could only join together, despite some of them likely to meet conditions quicker than others. He encouraged the states to help each other out. 

Montenegro is seen as the first promising country to be integrated to Europe, despite the process beginning more than 20 years ago. Whilst Montenegro expects to meet all the requirements before 2028, Scholz said he hopes the whole process would be complete before 2030.

The German leader also urged Serbia and Kosovo to thaw relations.

Croatia was the last state to become part of the EU, back in 2013.

But with Ukraine and Moldova’s memberships being accelerated due to the full-scale invasion, its likely to leave a sour taste in the Balkan states’ mouths.