European Union Expanding: Six Balkan Countries to Join EU Within the Next 10 Years

The countries of the Western Balkans will be able to get a little closer to becoming members of the European Union, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during a reception of the region's leaders in Berlin yesterday. 

‘I hope that it will not be another 10 years before all six countries finally become EU members,’ Scholz said at the summit, known as the Berlin Process.

The German Chancellor was referring to the six Balkan countries: Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Albania.

Scholz added that ‘the European Union is only complete with the Western Balkans as part of it’.

Also at the press conference on the sidelines of the Berlin Process Summit, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen made her comments. 

She called the summit a success, stating that EU enlargement is once again a priority for the 27-member bloc, but she warned against the growth of Russian influence in the Western Balkans.

Since Croatia joined the EU in 2013, the EU has not accepted any new members. 

Von der Leyen acknowledged that there was a long period when ‘enlargement... was ruled out as a possibility’, but ‘in recent years this has completely changed’, she added.

The EU President also warned participants against the growing Russian influence in the Western Balkans.

‘Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine has made it clear that we must choose to be on the right side of history and on the side of international law,’ she said.

Following the meeting, the leaders signed an action plan for a common market in the region and a new mobility agreement on access to higher education, which was also in the spotlight.

The Berlin Process has been held annually since 2014 as part of the EU's enlargement plans and to prevent Russia's destructive influence on the Balkan countries.