Northern Macedonia awaits EU negotiations date

Will North Macedonia get the date for negotiations with the EU for membership in the European Union? This issue is the main topic in northern Macedonia (RMV). RMV Prime Minister Zoran Zaev after his visit to Brussels said, that Northern Macedonia has made very serious decisions and rightly expects this to be rewarded, but if the reverse occurs, that the country will not start negotiations for membership, then his government will likely lose support.

If they decide not to set the date, this would be the possibility of government collapse. This government is stable with all these positive decisions, certainly it will immediately lose most in the assembly, as MPs have promised us that we will surely take a positive view from the European Union if we move forward”, Zaev has declared.

Even Deputy Prime Minister for Eurointegration Issues Bujar Osmani has expressed full optimism that Northern Macedonia will open membership talks this summer. “I am optimistic about what I hear, from the imbalances, from the assessments we receive from member states here including Paris that this story cannot be ignored and North Macedonia to begin negotiations on membership in the European Union”, Osmani has declared.

Macedonian opposition says we do not deserve the appointment of date

The Macedonian opposition considers that the government is unable to advance the Euro-integration process, so it does not expect the start date for membership talks with the European Union to begin. The “The odds are small. It's possible, but they're very small, because we haven't done our homework properly yet. If we had an excellent record of meeting our obligations, it would be very difficult to refuse. Imagine a state like Germany that has been the most powerful supporter, now has dilemmas and requires the issue of the date to remain for autumn”, Ilija Dimovski has declared by VMRO DPMNE.

EU Must Hand over Northern Macedonia

Contacters of political issues also point to consequences if Northern Macedonia does not start negotiations for membership soon after the European Commission's positive report and recommendation for opening talks. The failure to start the talks would mean despair and a reduction of hope for progress and prosperity in the country. Such despair could bring other consequences in terms of growing migration, as many young people will continue to leave the country in search of a better life”, analyst Sasho Klekovski says.

Until the day the European Council summit is held, concessions can be made, but member states may remain in their strong positions, which is not yet the time for the June summit to be given the date, says analyst Muhamed Halili.

“If President Macro remains in this position, it is not good because it will be a long way since internal European reforms cannot be made for one or five months, but require a long procedure”, says former diplomat Muhamed Halili.

Malika Ristevska Jordanova from the Institute for European Policy estimates that the opening of negotiations may be discouraging for the country in particular after resolving the dispute with Greece. We have a very clean report and the final extension of the decision for the fall I believe it would be more to deal with issues within the union than with the country's” conditions, Jordanova says, broadcasts.

Analyst Saso Ordanovski has warned that extraordinary parliamentary elections are not excluded in September if the country does not get the date for starting negotiations with the EU. “Unless we get the date for negotiations with the EU, the distribution of this government and extraordinary elections, it is the only logical strategy for consolidating further the success achieved by this government. In those elections voters will have to choose: they want the continuation or fall of the Macedonian version of the Vajmar Republic, as historically here “Rahstag's Department” did not succeed with undemocratic forces in April 2017”, Ordanovski estimates.

European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker has indicated that there is still no full reconciliation among EU member states to authorize opening accession negotiations for northern Macedonia. Unofficially, countries that hesitate to open negotiations are Germany, France and the Netherlands.