After his visit to Albania’s neighbor North Macedonia on Wednesday, German Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth is paying a two-day visit to Tirana to express Germany’s full support for the first intergovernmental conference to be held between the EU and the Western European country within a month from now.
The talks held in Skopje appeared to show Germany’s firm position not to decouple the European paths of the two countries.
In March 2020, the European leaders took the political decision to open talks with Albania and North Macedonia, but put a number of conditions for Albania to meet before it sits in talks.
It remains unclear whether all 27 EU member states would agree with the European Commission’s assessment that Albania has met all conditions. But a? general opinion is that April 25 parliamentary elections were regular despite any irregularities considered normal for democratic countries like Albania.
However, Bulgaria has vetoed North Macedonia’s advancement over identity and language issues and the obstacle for Albania is Skopje.
Germany is now the main EU member state pushing not to separate the two countries’ progress in the EU path, and to decide on a date for talks to start with both countries.
“Time has come for the EU to deliver on its promise and start accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. The future of the Balkans is European. Let us act now so that we don’t have any regrets later,” said Roth before starting the talks with the Albanian authorities. / argumentum.al
