The European Union (EU) opened accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia on Tuesday.two countries blocked in the antechamber of the EU for 8 and 17 years, respectively, although the process is expected to be long and complicated before a possible entry.
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Both countries join Serbia and Montenegro, other Western Balkan nations negotiating their accession to the EU, and will be called upon to become part of
the European political community, a proposed framework pending further enlargement.
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“It is a historic moment,” stressed the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at a press conference in Brussels with the leaders of Albania and North Macedonia.
“It is what its citizens have waited so long for and … it is what they deserve,” he added.
North Macedonia has been a candidate since 2005 and Albania since 2014.
“This is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning,” said Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, paraphrasing former British leader Winston Churchill, to emphasize the many difficulties still to be overcome by the two candidates.
The 27 countries of the European Union agreed on Monday to open negotiations, the day after the signing of a protocol between North Macedonia and Bulgaria that lifted the last obstacles. Skopje had already ended a dispute with Greece in 2018 by agreeing to change its name, opening the door to NATO.
But the EU one was still closed due to a Bulgarian veto for historical reasons
and cultural.
Bulgaria’s position also prevented the start of negotiations with Albania, which
the EU linked those of North Macedonia.
‘New beginning’
It was “an absurd situation”, denounced Rama, who thanked his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron for his commitment to promote the process during the first half of the year at the head of the Council of Europe.
This is a “new beginning” for the Western Balkan region and “it will be synonymous with prosperity and progress,” said Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski.
“With the war (in Ukraine) it is very important that we continue to unite our European family,” said the French Secretary of State for Europe, Laurence Boone.
Her German counterpart, Anna Lührmann, indicated that “the next stages will open as soon as the constitutional changes are adopted” in North Macedonia.
As part of its agreement, Skopje has promised to modify the Magna Carta, an ambition that, however, proves thorny.
The agreement with Bulgaria will, among other things, allow Macedonian to become one of the official languages of the EU.
Negotiations to join the Union will be long and accession will have to be ratified by the 27 members of the EU, even by referendum in some states.
Applicants must assume the obligations of membership and be financially
functioning market able to cope with competitive pressure within
from the EU.
Two other Balkan countries are negotiating their accession to the EU: Serbia since 2014 and Montenegro since 2012.
Turkey has been negotiating since 1999, but the talks have been “stalled” since 2019 due to the autocratic drift of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and diplomatic disputes with Greece and other member states.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP
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