What was important, she said, were the conditions the countries had to fulfil to trigger the accession process.

“At our meeting we discussed the agenda both for our cooperation with the West Balkan states and cooperation between the West Balkan states,” Angela Merkel said after the West Balkan Conference in Paris.

The topic of “a chance for people to meet” had been put at the top of the agenda, Merkel added. Progress had indeed been made. The fact that “we were able to sign the Youth Foundation Agreement” had to be rated a huge success, Angela Merkel said. The Chancellor also highlighted the opportunities for cooperation which the academies of sciences would have.

Merkel said that railway and road links were a priority issue for people in the West Balkan region. That was why it was important for the European Union to provide support in this area.

“We want to help these countries to better grow together and, of course, at the same time to move closer to the EU,” Chancellor Merkel says in her latest video podcast. That will also lead to stability and peace in the region, she adds.

The Chancellor notes that successes have already been achieved. There are now “fairly firm plans” for traffic routes between individual countries. “There is much closer collaboration in the field of scientific cooperation too. And now, here in Paris, we will be signing a Youth Foundation Agreement for the West Balkan states so that young people have more and better opportunities to get to know each other,” she adds. The Franco-German Youth Foundation served as a model.

The first West Balkan Conference was held in 2014. It was established on Germany’s initiative on the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. After previously meeting in Berlin and Vienna, participants now came together in Paris. As well as France, which hosted the event, the following countries took part: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Italy and Germany. Representatives of the European Commission also attended.