The European Union has today started accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, two countries blocked in the EU’s entrance hall for 8 and 17 years respectively, but the process is billed as long and complex before possible entry.
The two countries join Serbia and Montenegro, while other Western Balkan countries are negotiating their EU membership.
“This is a historic moment,” European Executive Committee President Ursula Von der Leyen said at a press conference in Brussels with the leaders of Albania and North Macedonia. This is what its citizens have been waiting for and deserve for so long,” she said. North Macedonia has been a candidate since 2005 and Albania since 2014.
Citing Winston Churchill’s words, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said, “This is not the beginning of the end, it is the end of the beginning” to highlight the many challenges the two candidates still have to overcome.
The 27 European Union countries agreed to start negotiations on Monday, a day after the signing of a protocol that removes the last barriers between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
North Macedonia agreed to change its name in 2018, ending a dispute with Greece and opening the door to NATO. However, EU countries were still closed due to Bulgaria’s veto for historical and cultural reasons.
Bulgaria’s stance also prevented the start of negotiations with Albania, which the EU tied to those of North Macedonia.
‘new beginning’
Rama thanked his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, for his determination to push the process forward in the first half of the year under the presidency of the European Council, saying it was “absurd”.
Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski said this is a “new beginning” for the Western Balkans region and will be “synonymous with prosperity and progress”.
“It is very important that we continue to unite our European family with the war (in Ukraine),” said Laurence Boone, France’s Foreign Minister for Europe. Her German counterpart, Anna Lührmann, stated that “the next steps will unfold once the constitutional changes are adopted” in North Macedonia.
As part of its agreement, North Macedonia promised to replace the Magna Carta, but this ambition proved to be thorny.
The agreement with Bulgaria will allow, among other things, Macedonian to become one of the official languages of the EU.
Accession negotiations will take a long time, and membership will have to be ratified by the 27 EU members, including through referendums in some states.
Applicants must assume the obligations of membership and have a functioning market economy that can cope with competitive pressure within the EU.
Two other Balkan countries are negotiating for EU accession: Serbia since 2014 and Montenegro since 2012.
Turkey has been negotiating since 1999, but negotiations have been “stopped” since 2019 due to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s autocratic drift and diplomatic disagreements with Greece and other member states.
source: Noticias
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