"As if the EU did not have enough problems, Angela Merkel made promises for Albania and Serbia's accession to the EU," the newspaper noted on Thursday, on the eve of the wrap-up of the Chancellor's tour of Albania, Serbia and Bosnia.
DWN argues that the Chancellor's growing attention toward the Balkan region can be explained by the fact that "countries such as Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are trying to gain influence in the region."
The newspaper is wary of Merkel's promises, noting that "experience shows that the inclusion of new countries into the European Union for geopolitical reasons often comes at a tremendous cost: Greece also became a member of the EU at the insistence of the United States. The experience has not turned out particularly favorably."
DWN noted that as with the case of Greece prior to its entry, accounting of the statistical data provided by Serbia and Albania remains poor, and both countries are still very far from reaching EU standards in a number of areas. The paper also warned that regional corruption threatens to turn EU projects into a financial black hole.