BELGRADE - The visit by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to Berlin and his meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel shows a new foreign policy activity of Germany, which wants to become more involved in matters concerning the Western Balkans, Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Belgrade Henri Bohnet said Thursday, adding that Germany is interested in the stability of the region.

Speaking at a conference on the question of EU Enlargement after the European Parliament elections, Bohnet said that the EU was incomplete without the Western Balkans and Germany had an interest in seeing the region stable.

He announced that Merkel would take part in a meeting with other leaders in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in July, where talks would focus on regional cooperation, after which a conference would be organized in Berlin by the chancellor, who would call for strengthening regional cooperation.

You will have to cooperate more here in the region to speed up integration. There is no such thing as a free lunch, Bohnet said, adding that the crisis in Ukraine would make becoming a new member state more difficult.

Bohnet stressed that Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina needed to cooperate despite prejudices that were present.

Commenting on results of the recent European Parliament elections, Bohnet said that they had pointed to the possibility of EU enlargement slowing down and to importance of European values in the light of the Ukrainian crisis.

The elections showed a growing skepticism in the EU when it comes to enlargement, as some of the new members have brought problems with them, he said.

Nobody wants to import problems in the EU, Bohnet said, adding that the Ukrainian crisis had shown that the European values of peace, freedom and stability were still highly valued.