German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that Europe will be united only when the whole Western Balkans region joins the European Union, the Srna news agency reported.

 Merkel joined Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the town of Sopron marking the 30th anniversary of ‘Pan-European Picnic’ first held in a meadow on the Hungarian-Austrian border on August 19, 1989. It became one of the events to remember the ‘Fall of the Iron Curtain’ between the East and West.

“If you look from the geostrategic point and see the map, then (you will see) that Europe would be united with the Western Balkans countries,” as the part of the EU, Merkel told reporters

Out of six Western Balkans countries, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania are candidate states, while Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential candidates.