The lack of a decision to start accession negotiations with Skopje and Tirana does not mean that the EU enlargement process is over, said European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday.
The European Commission last year recommended starting negotiations with Albania and Northern Macedonia on joining the EU. However, the decision has already been delayed three times due to objections from several countries, in particular, France and the Netherlands. At the summit on Thursday, leaders were unable to agree on a common statement on this issue.
“Of course, it is difficult to be optimistic, but there is no reason to say that this is a complete failure”, – Tusk told reporters, evaluating the results of the summit. According to him, the absence of a solution is a “mistake”, but he believes that one day these two countries will nevertheless join the EU.
“This is not the end of the history of expansion”, – Tusk said, calling for a solution by May 2020, when the EU-Western Balkans summit in Zagreb will be held.
EC President Jean-Claude Juncker also called the current situation a mistake.
“Yesterday the question was not to say whether Albania and Northern Macedonia were ready to join the EU, it was about whether they were ready to be candidates with whom we would start negotiations. The majority of the European Council wanted to say this, but there were some member states that themselves were not ready. This is a grave historical mistake”, – Juncker said.
Answering a question from journalists, does this mean that EU enlargement will end there, the EC head warned against the failure to fulfill these promises.
“If this is the end of the expansion, then we will have to face serious criticism. Because we supported these countries, helped them, visited them, and we made public promises to these countries. If we want to be respected, we must keep our promises”, – he said.