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This week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pays his first visit to the Balkans since taking office.
On June 10, the German chief executive will be in Kosovo, where, in addition to local leaders, he will meet with representatives of German KFOR troops. From there, Scholz will continue his journey to Serbia. On the same day in Thessaloniki, he will hold a meeting with the leaders of the countries of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), a political forum initiated in Sofia in 1996. He is considered the political umbrella of the Regional Cooperation Council. , which was established in 2008, as the successor to the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe. Greece currently holds the presidency of the SEECP, based on the principle of rotation.
The next day, June 11, Scholz will travel to northern Macedonia and Bulgaria. “The focus of the trip will be the European perspective of the Western Balkan countries and Germany’s contribution to improving regional cooperation and overcoming bilateral blockades,” said German government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner. One of Germany’s challenges in the region is the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, a process that Scholz committed to in mid-May when he invited the two leaders to a meeting with negotiator Lajcak. At the same time, Chancellor Scholz’s itinerary shows the three current challenges of German foreign policy in the Balkan region, which the current coalition has declared a priority: the lack of progress in the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue process, the stalemate in the Berlin Process and the stalemate in Bulgaria for the opening of negotiations with Northern Macedonia, and consequently Albania.
The Social Democrat politician, who in the former cabinet of Christian Democrat Angela Merkel has been deputy prime minister and finance minister, has stated in almost every one of his foreign policy speeches that he wants to send a clear message about the European perspective of the Western Balkans region.
He reiterated this in a meeting he had on Thursday with the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, “It is very important now to implement the long-standing promise that the Western Balkan countries have a European perspective and that one day they will join the European Union “, said Scholz.
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