[ad_1]
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg has said that Russia is not just looking at Ukraine. At a donors’ conference in Berlin to help Moldova, a small country of just 2.6 million people that has so far hosted 370,000 refugees, Schallenberg also mentioned the Western Balkans, DW says.
Russia is not only looking to Ukraine, but also to the southern Caucasus, the Western Balkans, and the Republic of Moldova, he warned. The head of Austrian diplomacy asked the EU to open membership negotiations with Albania and Northern Macedonia as soon as possible.
““I expect this to still be done under the French presidency.”, was his comment, but the point is that the French presidency ends in June. The Austrian Foreign Minister also insisted on visa liberalization with Kosovo as soon as possible. Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina should also receive a membership perspective. It is a question of whether these six countries of the Western Balkans will remain on the European path of democracy and freedom or not, he said, recalling the influence of Russia, China and other countries in the region.
The EU should not forget that previous membership processes have led to the strengthening of democratic developments in today’s member states, Schallenberg said. “Without EU membership, Eastern European countries today would probably be in an even more difficult situation,” he said, referring to Russia.
top channel
[ad_2]
Source link
