Presenting the government's program for Germany's EU presidency in the Bundestag on Thursday, Merkel said that priorities during the EU presidency would be reducing red-tape, establishing a common power market, protecting the climate, and education.
As for the expansion of the European Union, Merkel did not rule out the possibility of admitting new members.
This particularly applies to Croatia, she said.
She stressed that the prospect of EU membership should remain open for other Western Balkan countries as well, but that those countries, unlike Croatia, could not count on joining the EU soon.
Those countries, except for Croatia, can count only on the medium-term prospect of joining the EU, Merkel said, underlining the importance of breaking the impasse in the ratification of the European constitution.