Germany Doesn’t Intend to Separate Accession Talks of Albania and North Macedonia with EU

Germany has guaranteed its support for North Macedonia and Albania in their EU accession drive. This was confirmed at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries, Heiko Maas and Bujar Osmani in Berlin on Monday as it is reported by reliable media sources which highlighteed that Berlin’s top diplomat described as “fake news” what has been circulating on a “non- paper” on the Balkans.
German FM Maas is not in favor of separating Albania from North Macedonia, both candidate countries to join the Union, regarding the membership process.
At a joint press conference with his North Macedonian counterpart, the German Foreign Minister said in Berlin on Monday: “This is a discussion we have had before, but vice versa. In the past these countries (Albania and North Macedonia) have not been divided and it has been fine. We support the Portuguese presidency to find a solution to bilateral issues as soon as possible, in order to open membership conferences as soon as possible, both for North Macedonia and Albania. We do not intend to separate them.”
This position has been shared by Bujar Osmani: “Although the Commission acceses each country in accordance with the progress it has made the experience has shown that a common journey is more fruitful, because it benefits from synergistic effects.”
Both Albania and North Macedonia expect the launch of the first intergovernmental talks with EU which have been delayed and as EU is set to start the Conference on the Future of Europe it’s not clear what is going to happen regarding the start of the first accession step. /argumentum.al