German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wants to step up the pace of EU enlargement to include Western Balkan countries such as Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the face of Russian and Chinese attempts to exert influence in the region. “The faster we become stronger as a European Union in these geopolitical times, the better,” Germany’s top diplomat said on Monday at a meeting with her Montenegrin colleague Filip Ivanovic in the capital Podgorica. At the same time, she emphasised: “Enlargement is not an end in itself, but serves to strengthen our common Europe.” The Russian war against U…