Its president explained again today how it is necessary to proceed with the amendment of its Constitution (in order to include the Bulgarian minority living in the country) if it wishes to start the accession process with the EU.
“As I said a year ago, what is agreed is agreed. In order to officially open the process of accession negotiations with North Macedonia, the commitments made in 2022 must be implemented and nothing more,” noted the president of the European Council, in joint statements with the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Christian Mickoski, after the meeting they had in the afternoon, in Skopje.
He emphasized that the adoption of the agreed constitutional amendments remains “the only way” for the official start of the negotiations and for the citizens of the country to take full advantage of the benefits of European integration.
“Frozen” the accession process of North Macedonia
North Macedonia’s accession process remains essentially frozen, as Skopje has not yet fulfilled the obligations arising from the proposal presented by the European Union in the summer of 2022. The proposal envisages the revision of the Constitution of North Macedonia in order to explicitly recognize the Bulgarian minority living in the country.
The plan had been accepted by the previous centre-left government, but was rejected by the current ruling VMRO-DPMNE party of Prime Minister Christian Mickoski, which was in opposition at the time.
Antonio Costa also pointed out that the EU enlargement process is based on the principle of meritocracy and recalled that other candidate countries, such as Montenegro and Albania, have already advanced to different stages of negotiations.
Tour in the Western Balkans
The president of the European Council has been on a tour of the six countries of the Western Balkans since yesterday, Monday, with the aim of conveying the message that the perspective of the enlargement of the European Union remains active and realistic, provided that the countries of the region continue the necessary reforms.
The first stop of his tour was Sarajevo, where yesterday he met with the members of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the president of the country’s Council of Ministers.
Earlier today he visited Tirana and held talks with the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama. Antonio Costa called on the Albanian government to step up efforts to fight organized crime and corruption, while noting that the country is now in a position to start closing bargaining chips. As he mentioned, the European Commission has already recommended the closing of three chapters with Albania, while he called the goal of completing accession negotiations by 2027 “ambitious but achievable”.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, the president of the European Council will travel to Pristina, where he will meet with the outgoing prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, as well as opposition leaders. On Thursday he will be in Belgrade for talks with the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic.
His tour will end in Montenegro, where the country’s president, Jakov Milatovic, has invited the region’s leaders to a dinner in Tivat to mark the 20th anniversary of the country’s independence.
On June 5, Antonio Costa will co-chair the EU-Western Balkans Summit, with the central theme of “Common Prosperity and Stability of the EU and the Western Balkans”. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will participate in the meeting, which will be held in Montenegro, along with leaders of member states of the European Union.
