“Remarkable progress has been made in the Western Balkans over the past years. However, we have recently seen that some of the wounds of the past go deep and can still cause tensions, even today. We want to continue to support the countries of the region as they develop their democratic and rule-of-law structures and move towards stability and prosperity.

For this reason, I leave today for Serbia and Kosovo, on my first trip to the Western Balkans, and will visit Albania next week, in order to see for myself what the situation is. I will reassure my interlocutors that the road to the EU will remain open if they opt for progress and reform instead of division and stagnation.