Merkel: Positive process of talks must continue

Merkel: Positive process of talks must continue

She underscored that the accession talks with Belgrade would be conducted with the expectation for the Belgrade-Priština dialogue to go on.

In her speech at the beginning of the meeting, the German chancellor also spoke well of the Brussels agreement.

Merkel said that Germany supports the region and the support is reflected in the view of a European perspective for all countries which will eventually conclude the process by full EU membership.

The examples of Slovenia and Croatia serve to illustrate this is more than just mere words, she said and at the same time warned that the beginning of the EU accession process depends on the fulfillment of conditions.

Merkel said that during the meeting in Dubrovnik, she had a chance to see the wish of countries in the region to talk and look for solutions to existing problems, adding that German and the EU want to provide assistance to this end.

She noted that the Dubrovnik meeting also covered the economic perspective, political processes and infrastructural issues.

She also said that there is a EU Cohesion Fund with the budget at EUR 11.7 billion for the period 2014-2020 which may be used for funding of infrastructure projects.

Merkel announced that the meeting in Berlin on August 28 would provide an opportunity to discuss project details with prime ministers and ministers, and to identify obstacles in the process and come up with ways to overcome them.

Croatian President Ivo Josipović noted, among other things, that participants of the Dubrovnik meeting backed the donor conference to raise aid for Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina which were hit by severe floods in May.