German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz said this at the last press conference.
He emphasized this in response to a question about the potential admission of Ukraine to the EU, stating that the situation in the Western Balkans is different.
“We have been negotiating membership with the countries of the Western Balkans for almost 20 years. At least one of them, Montenegro, is practically ready. The negotiating clusters are mostly finished and the country could now enter the final phase of the process,” he emphasized.
The question, he says, is whether the states of our region should receive them all at once or one by one.
“There are good reasons to say – all at once. But there are also good reasons to say – one after the other. We will discuss this at the next meeting of the European Council,” Merc said.
The situation, he added, is much better this year than last year. Because, as Merc added, at last year’s EU – Western Balkans Summit, “no one knew what to do with the countries of the Western Balkans and how they should progress”.
