Merkel and Macron Sweeten EU Path for Volatile West Balkans
- Leaders discuss aid plan, economic area in Trieste, Italy
- EU states coax region of 20 million as Russia seeks influence
Merkel will be joined by French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and the leaders of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania at a summit in Trieste, Italy on Wednesday.
Photographer: Getty ImagesThe leaders of some of the European Union’s biggest economies, including Germany’s Angela Merkel, offered incentives to the states in the western Balkans to move closer to joining the world’s largest trading bloc and stabilize the continent’s most volatile region.
Merkel met French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and the leaders of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania at a summit in Trieste, Italy on Wednesday. The leaders were set to endorse the idea of creating a regional economic area and discuss 220 million euros ($252 million) in aid for infrastructure projects, European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said. He didn’t provide details.