Scholz: Time to resume negotiations with the Western Balkans

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Moscow has broken all the rules of the international order by using force to change borders, and Russia will be the one to suffer the most severe consequences, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday.

"The need to guarantee security in Europe is one of the key perceptions in the post-war period on which everyone, including Russia, agreed after the 1990s," Scholz said at a press conference after a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

"There can only be one answer to that. First, we call on Russia to stop the war. Second, we must strengthen ourselves so that an attack on a member of the European Union or NATO does not happen, because we are strong enough to respond to it," the German chancellor said.

He also stressed that it is necessary, as soon as possible, to start negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia on EU accession because, as he assessed, the Western Balkans would be more vulnerable to external influence due to any delay.

"It is clear to both Germany and Sweden that the EU must continue institutional reforms in order to have the capacity for enlargement," Scholz said.