BELGRADE – Due to the political crisis in Macedonia, Germany is determined to take a greater role the Western Balkans.
According to the unofficial diplomatic sources in Germany, there is an increased interest in the situation in the Western Balkans, writes Serbian daily newspaper Danas.
Given the fact that Germany has not led an active policy towards the Western Balkans, it plans to take a proactive approach, and it recently started to write a draft strategy for this region, which would be released after the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of these countries, writes Danas.
As stated, the reason for a more active role of Germany in the Western Balkans is a political crisis in Macedonia.
After the appointment of Sigmar Gabriel – the leader of Social Democratic Party of Germany, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Knut Fleckenstein as one of the three rapporteurs for Macedonia, the approach towards Macedonia has changed, as it is explained by the unofficial diplomatic sources for Danas.
Prior to the publication of this strategy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, which will serve as a guideline for policy towards the Western Balkans, the meeting of ministers of foreign affairs from these countries will be held in Berlin. According to the sources, that was one of the reasons of Gabriel’s visit to the region last week.
The unofficial sources also point out that the German social democrats are “sometimes more rigorous in criticism towards countries such as Serbia, unlike the conservatives, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.” On the other hand, for conservatives, it is important that stability is preserved in the Western Balkans, and having social democrats and conservatives in the coalition will certainly make foreign policy for this region harmonised, explains Danas.