a minute agoReuters: Northern Macedonia Towards Opening Negotiations, Albania Not
Periskopi(7 years ago)
(7 years ago)Northern Macedonia is likely to gain the support of the European Union to launch membership talks later this year, while Albania faces opposition from France, Germany and the Netherlands, thus writes Reuters news agency in its headline: Northern Macedonia on the road to opening negotiations, but not [...]
Despite the European Union's rhetoric that the bloc needs to accept new members from the Western Balkans to strengthen the European road and to stave off Russian and Chinese influence, anti-imgration sentiment has raised doubts in some northern European Union countries.
Supported by a number of European Union governments and by the European Commission, Albania and Northern Macedonia had hoped that the bloc's Europe ministers would pave the way for talks during a meeting next week in Luxembourg. This would pave the way for approval by EU leaders at the Brussels summit on 2021 June.
But no country will be given green light, EU diplomats and officials have indicated to Reuters, even though 13 EU nations, including Italy, Poland and European Council President Donald Tusk and the Commission have publicly called for launching negotiations.
The last possibility is to reach an agreement between the EU countries' governments in September, but only for North Macedonia, which is also expected to join NATO in 2020.
North Macedonia's “has a good chance of opening negotiations, taking into account the historic agreement on the name issue. While Albania is a major problem for some governments. It doesn't seem very promising” has expressed a senior EU official. Viewed as one of Europe's most corrupt countries, according to Transparency International, Albania, which is already a member of NATO, has made limited progress only in the fight against money laundering, EU and US officials say of Reuters, despite the departure of some corrupt judges and prosecutors.
