Macron gives positive signals for negotiations with Albania, concerned about Russian influence in Serbia

France's President Emmanuel Macron appears to be less skeptical about opening negotiations with Albania and Northern Macedonia.

Elyses's chief has been expressed during the speech held at the Security Conference under way in Munich, Germany, that he is ready to support the opening process of negotiations with the European Union.

“We are awaiting the report in March, depending on the fact that if the results are positive and trust gained, then we will support the opening of negotiations for Albania and Northern Macedonia”, Macron stressed, “Euronews Albania” reported.

Furthermore, France's leader stressed that there is a concern by Chinese and Russian influence on the six states that aspire to join the bloc, such as Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Macedonia, so he stressed it is wrong to block these states on the road to the European Union.

This month, the Commission published the new methodology of enlargement, based on the French proposal, which also envisions freezing negotiations if aspiring countries do not score progress.

During October of last year, France's President Emmanuel Macron stressed that before the European Union focuses on enlargement, it must first work hard to reform the EU itself, warning of a change of methodology for candidate countries to the union.

It now seems that this approach of France has changed, and Macron hinted at the Conference for Security in Munich, Germany that he will not be “Luke” the role of blockaders for the aspirations of Albania and Northern Macedonia to join the European Union.

“Euronews Albania” has made detailed progress with France's president, Emmanuel Macron, over his stance on the process of opening negotiations with Albania and Northern Macedonia.

Pronouncement of the president of France, Emmanuel Macron:

Question: Now that the European Commission has revised the methodology for EU enlargement, will France veto the launch of negotiations with northern Macedonia and Albania, if it is when?

Macro: First of all, if you authorize me, I object to the term "veto" French because I don't like that term. It does not take great courage to hide behind France when there is no agreement, but this is not about opening negotiations with Albania and Northern Macedonia, but I want to add something: many countries were against the start, and I think it would have been a major mistake to break up two countries before the start of negotiations.

I said there's a pre-condition, we need to change the rules of enlargement that's too bureaucratic and not transparent enough so rules have to be changed. We need to talk about enlargement, but this topic needs to be clearer and more returnable. We need to be able to move faster with countries that mark more progress, give more investment to these successful countries, but we also need to get away from it if we see it not working. What it takes is that we can take steps back if necessary. So that was our condition.

But I'm very determined and we need to be strict here, when we talk about the aspect of reforms, and we'll see on Mars what the Commission means, what progress we expect these countries to make, Albania and Northern Macedonia, I've talked about preconditions and if the results are positive, if it creates confidence that this works, then we can be able to start negotiations.

But there are two things you need to consider, first of all, the strategic goal that we pursue in the Western Balkans because we need to keep them and ultimately anchor in Europe, that's the strategic goal that I support even when we talk about enlargement or methodology that wasn't good. I have a lot of respect for President Vuciq, he does a very good job and he's a great leader, but what happens there is decided by Russia and China and not from Europe, so at the end of the day has no impact on the everyday lives of citizens.

So we have to guarantee investments in culture and infrastructure, negotiations with Serbia last for five years, and after two years we can say that Serbia needs membership because it now becomes unbearable. But there are others who invest there, and that then turns us into a theoretical position in this case.

If we want the Balkans to be involved in Europe, we need to invest in culture, language, infrastructure, and I know we did it on the French side. And that's what we need to do instead of starting negotiations and there's some hypocrisy here. Because we start negotiations and behind closed doors they know there is no chance of membership for the next 15 or 20 years. That's not reasonable. So we're fucking with these people and that's what I call hypocrisy. It's frustrating for those places, we can't tell you that you can't join in the next 10 or 15 years, but we have to tell you, yes, you can join, if you meet the terms.

Question: And when we talk about neighborhoods, we only talk about enlargement, but can it work with so many countries? We're not fast and nifty enough now and this can work with more countries, for example, in common foreign policy, do you think it'll be easier with more members, for example, with our policies towards Turkey and Russia?

Macro: We are no longer consistent, those who say we should move faster with the new members say we don't want to spend more than 1% of the budget. And that's not how it works. The bread is cut thicker but also painted with less butter. So the implications we have in Europe is that Europe is a major market that is expanding and not a political power. A political power has special preferences and should be serious about how it deals with neighbours, and it is not just the idea of enlargement as soon as possible.