Among the Western Balkan civil society representatives who spoke to outgoing German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Belgrade on Monday was the head of Transparency International in BiH, Ivana Korajlic.

Merkel met Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, as well as with civil society representatives from Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo and BiH.

Korajlic told N1 that she can not reveal details about the meeting, but said that “the positive message is that Merkel met with civil society before the meeting with Vucic.”

“She talked very openly about the problems in the region,” Korajlic said, adding that every participant had the opportunity to present problems in their own country.

“I talked about what Transparency International has been talking about for years… About the problems with the lack of reforms, about obstructions, about the fact that we are not only stagnating but fallen behind in everything, while at the same time these reforms that are being implemented are simply going in the wrong direction. I also said that the international community should pay more attention to how and with whom it negotiates, and what kind of solutions,” Korajlic told N1.