Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the CDU departed for Tivat, Montenegro, on Thursday morning to attend the annual summit of the so-called Berlin Process. Merz, along with other top European politicians, will meet with representatives from the Western Balkan nations in Montenegro. According to details provided by the German government, the central discussion points of this meeting will include economic growth, competitiveness, and security.
Beyond fostering regional cooperation among the Western Balkan states, the summit is primarily aimed at supporting their accession process to the European Union, which has recently experienced setbacks. Germany originally initiated the Berlin Process back in 2014. The six involved Western Balkan states-Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia-have all been seeking EU membership for many years.
