Last spring, North Macedonia and Albania received the green light to begin negotiations on their EU accession. However, the process was blocked when Bulgaria vetoed negotiations with North Macedonia over its differences with it over history and language.
According to eNews, at a meeting in Brussels, EU foreign ministers discussed the resumption of its expansion to the Western Balkans. The EU High Representative for Foreign Policy confirmed that there is one plan for Skopje and Tirana.
“We need to speed up the accession of Albania and North Macedonia, and by the way, there was never any intention to separate the two countries in the EU accession process”, – said Josep Borrell.
“As for North Macedonia, it has fulfilled the conditions. The member countries decided to start negotiations. I hope that the first intergovernmental conference will be convened shortly after the European Council approves the framework for the negotiations”.
The North Macedonian Prime Minister said further delay could threaten the stability of the Western Balkans. He referred to unofficial documents about the possible redrawing of borders.
“If the blockage continues, there will be a huge risk both for Bulgaria itself and for North Macedonia”, – Zoran Zaev said.
“Doubtful documents are already circulating in which very dramatic ideas are inflated. I can only confirm that this is not possible. The Balkans were a powder keg not many centuries ago, but ten, twenty years ago. We do not want to repeat this”.