Osmani: This year we will start talks with EU

Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani has explained that messages received by European capitals are that the date is certain in October and that this means that by the end of this year, the start of EU membership negotiations can be expected.

There are several member states that do not understand the sensitivity of those months. We having a bad experience from the past, where here in the Balkans one day more, can complicate the situation, and not mention a year or a month, especially these three months until October, in view of regional disputes what happens in Greece with the elections, the Bregzit is scheduled just in October, the next Commission starts with work on November 1st, which means when the decision is adopted in October, will be the last session of commissioners, the last days of current EU commissions<1x> said Bujar Osmani, deputy prime minister for European agriculture.

The government must learn how to manage public expectations, estimates Zoran Nechev from the Institute for Democracy. As an example, he uses Prime Minister Zoran Zaev's statement that he will resign unless we get a date for negotiations, even though it was announced for June of this year.

According to Malika Ristevska-Jordanova from the Institute for European Policy, however, with the eventual failure to get a date for negotiations, the EU loses its credibility on the issue and it affects the credibility of this government. She does not believe countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands will be “brought to” under threats that the government of Macedonia will fall if it does not get the date for starting membership negotiations this summer.