Official Berlin does not support any alternatives to the full membership of the Western Balkan countries in the EU, led for “Deutsche Welle”, the German ambassador Anke Holstein, which expects a quick start to accession negotiations.
According to Holstein, the new coalition agreement for forming a government in Germany does not deviate from the previous positions of support for the country’s European integration, writes Sloboden Pecat.
“There are clear statements about our policy towards the Western Balkans in the coalition agreement and this clarity is a novelty. Specifically for Northern Macedonia, I will quote part of the coalition agreement: ‘We support the EU accession process of the six Western Balkan countries and the necessary reforms to meet all the Copenhagen criteria. In this framework, we strengthen civil society and support further rapprochement steps. “In the next step, the first chapters must be opened with Northern Macedonia and Albania,” Holstein said.
She added that she was “firmly convinced that it is more than symbolic that the new Minister of State for Europe at the German Foreign Ministry, Mrs. Anna Lirmann, will receive the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs of Northern Macedonia, Mr. Nikola Dimitrov, as the first foreign guest.”
