“A European Union of 27, 30, 36 states, with more than 500 million free and equal citizens, would have an even stronger weight in the world,” Scholz told the Congress at a meeting of the Social Democratic Party. “I am committed to the enlargement of the EU. It is a win for all of us that the EU grows eastward,” Scholz said.

The proposal signals a new attempt to expand the European bloc after the so-called Brexit split from the United Kingdom and saw nationalist movements against the group.

Since taking office, replacing Angela Merkel, Scholz made the enlargement of the European Union the centerpiece of his foreign policy. His idea is to integrate the Balkan countries that are not yet part of the European Union.

But the proposal gained traction after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which officially became a candidate to join the bloc in June this year.

Currently made up of 27 countries, the European Union allows for the free movement of people and goods, a common currency (the euro) and a combination of many other things, but it still faces internal obstacles as a common migration policy.

In the past decade, the coalition has seen the growth of radical nationalist movements in member states such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain that advocate leaving the EU.