Talks on Albania's and North Macedonia's accession to the European Union need to start as soon as possible because any delay will make Western Balkans vulnerable to outside influence, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday.
"It is clear for both Germany and Sweden that the EU must push ahead with institutional reforms to make itself capable of enlargement," Scholz said in a news conference after meeting Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
(Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska and Miranda Murray, editing by Thomas Escritt)