"Europe is always growing in difficult times and we are also in favour of sending a message to the Western Balkans, immediately opening membership negotiations with Northern Macedonia and Albania." This was stated by the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Barbock, during her arrival at the Council of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg. 

A few days before what could be the crucial EU summit, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock defended the concrete prospects for Ukraine's EU membership. 

"We welcome the Commission's recommendation to Ukraine and Moldova. This is a historic moment and everyone should ask themselves what will happen if we make the wrong decisions.

Now it is important not to follow Scheme F, but to seize this historic moment and make it clear to Ukraine with the aim of its perspective: You belong to the middle of the European Union," the Green politician said on Monday. The challenges and tasks for the membership process are "extremely big", but no one wants to look after a few years and say: "How can we not use this course?", She added. 

Baerbock also backed the EU Commission proposal for Moldova as a candidate for EU accession. "We have to see what Moldova's situation is at the moment," she said. "The government not only does everything to live up to European values ??in its own country, but also supports Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia." 

On Friday, the EU Commission recommended the official nomination of Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for membership in the European Union. The decision on candidate status now has to be made by the governments of the 27 EU countries.