After changing all the frontiers and destroying Yugoslavia, Berlin wants nobody to change Balkan borders

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has rejected a redrawing of borders in the Western Balkans along ethnic lines and the idea has been “put back into a drawer”.

Speaking during a joint press conference with Kosovan President Vjosa Osmani, Maas reiterated that Germany opposes redrawing borders in the Balkans, which according to him “belongs to the past”, is dangerous and unrealistic.

A document proposing controversial border changes across the Western Balkans caused a political storm in the region and in Brussels last week by suggesting that the creation of a Greater Serbia, a Greater Albania and a Greater Croatia could help resolve national tensions holding up EU integration in the region.

Asked by EURACTIV, European Council President’s Charles Michel’s office could not deny receiving the paper or provide any further comment.

“I want to emphasise that we consider unrealistic and very dangerous any ideas of drawing lines on maps,” Maas said.