EU considers opening membership negotiations with Macedonia, Albania by summer 2019
Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Kotzias said that discussions are taking place in the EU between the countries in favour of opening negotiations with Macedonia by summer 2019 and those championing delaying the opening.
“Today, we have been discussing the enlargement of the European Union, where there are two different lines. On one hand, the majority of 25 countries want and accept negotiations to be opened until the summer of 2019 for North Macedonia and Albania, and on the other there are Denmark, France and the Netherlands that want to postpone it. I have clearly explained to them that the geopolitical and geostrategic policy in the region requires assistance for these countries rather than delay. I’ve explained that the situation at home in these two countries requires stability and security, instead of the emergence of new problems. In the end, we are in a compromise foreseeing that the opening of chapters could begin by the summer of 2019, in fact something that is very important for us, with the current commission which is very aware of the situation and the problems,” Kotzias told journalists in Luxembourg.
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