‘We have not delivered’: Germany’s Wadephul criticizes slow EU enlargement progress

BUDVA, Montenegro — German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul urged EU countries on Thursday to deliver on enlargement promises to the Western Balkans, warning that the bloc’s credibility and its influence in the region are at stake. “We are at a crossroads with the EU enlargement process,” Wadephul told reporters following a meeting in Montenegro held as part of the Berlin Process — in which EU and Western Balkan countries discuss economic integration and infrastructure in the region as well as reconciliation among the Balkan countries. Wadephul argued that the EU had declared the Western Balkans belonged in the bloc at a summit in Thessaloniki in 2003.