The start of negotiations is allowed by the signing Sunday by Bulgaria and the North Macedonia of a bilateral protocol, initiated by France which provided the rotating presidency of the EU in the first half of this year.
Le Monde with AFP
The 27 member countries of the European Union gave, Monday, July 18, their agreement at the opening of negotiations to integrate Albania and Northern Macedonia. A decision which comes in the day after the signing of a protocol between Skopje and Sofia rising the last obstacles.
The twenty-seven come “just to give their agreement to the opening of membership negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia!”, A Tweeted Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala , whose country ensures the rotating presidency of the EU. “We have taken a new important step towards the rapprochement of the Western Balkans with the EU,” he added, after a meeting on this subject in Brussels.
The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and his northern Macedonian counterpart Dimitar Kovacevski are expected in Brussels on Tuesday to formally open these negotiations which will take years. They can start thanks to the signing Sunday by Bulgaria and the Northern Macedonia of a bilateral protocol, initiated by France which provided the rotating presidency of the EU in the first semester.
North Macedonia had accessed the status of candidate for entry into the EU almost twenty years ago, and she has already had to overcome important disputes between Greece to join the ‘NATO in March 2020. The Bulgarian position also prevented the candidacy of Albania, candidate since 2014.
conflict with Bulgaria
Bulgaria blocked the opening of negotiations until recently due to a conflict between the two countries on a long list of historical and linguistic subjects. Under French pressure, the Bulgarian Parliament agreed last month to lift its veto in exchange for the guarantee that northern Macedonia was going to fulfill certain requirements on litigation points.
The question of language remains very sensitive in northern Macedonia, Bulgaria considering the Macedonian language as a Bulgarian dialect, while the two countries compete for historical events and figures, mainly inherited from the Ottoman past.
The protocol will allow, among other things, that the Macedonian becomes one of the official languages of the EU. Northern Macedonia is committed to modifying its constitution to include Bulgarians in recognized ethnic groups and to implement a treaty of friendship dating from 2017, aimed at eradicating hate speeches.
The nationalist right of VMRO-DPMNE is furious and has denounced in recent days the compromise and Treaty Dimitar Kovacevski of “Traitor”. Brussels insists on the enlargement of the EU in the Balkans, the strategic importance of the region having increased in the context of the war in Ukraine.