Germany's Scholz praises Montenegro's efforts to join EU

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has praised Montenegro's reform efforts on its way to joining the European Union during a meeting with the prime minister of the Balkan state, Milojko Spajić.

Scholz spoke of "great progress" in fulfilling the requirements for accession during the meeting in Berlin on Monday.

"I am impressed by the ambition, by the speed and I consider this to be a realistic ambition," Scholz said.

The reform efforts are the basis for accession to be completed quickly, he added. "Because it is exclusively orientated towards its own merits."

Montenegro applied to join the EU 16 years ago and negotiations began at the end of 2012.

In addition to the country with just over 600,000 inhabitants, five other Western Balkan states are also applying to join: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.