Bieber stated for H1 that her messages on the progress of Albania and North Macedonia towards the EU reveal the limits of what Chancellor Merkel and Germany could do in terms of the enlargement.
-If we have a country such as Bulgaria, which is not the most powerful, yet can block the European integration process, that shows the limits of German influence within the EU, he stated.
Bieber reminded that when Angela Merkel took office for the first, there was an optimistic scenario that the Western Balkan countries could become EU members, but only Croatia entered the Union.
-To a certain degree, that is a failure for Germany in the past 15 years. She is not responsible for that, but that shows the limits of the German influence in the region and within the EU, assessed Bieber.
According to him, Serbia and Albania are “key countries”, especially because of the cooperation in the Open Balkans initiative and that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama are the “strongest politicians in the region”, but that the visit might send them a problematic message because they are more like masters than politicians.
Commenting the statement of a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina that Merkel supports the policy of Vucic, Bieber says “I would not say that so simply”.
-The visit is not automatic support, that means that Merkel believes that Serbia is an important country and that it is important to visit, he said, adding “she was not critical enough towards the democracy crisis in Serbia and President Vucic”.
He said that “from a German perspective, it has always been clear” that at the end of the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, there has to be some kind of recognition of Kosovo.
However, the problem is in what the EU can offer Serbia and Kosovo as a reward for finishing the negotiations, he assessed.
According to him, the EU cannot offer “accelerated membership” because other countries could block Belgrade or Pristina, and also because the “situation of democracy in Serbia is so problematic”.
Bieber thinks that Angela Merkel’s policy towards the region had good sides, but that the Chancellor “did not engage fully”.
The Berlin process is not a bad initiative, but is not deep and strategic enough to change the negative trends in the region, he said.
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
