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Balkan countries sign deal to unlock EU enlargement talks

The two Balkan countries have signed a deal that will allow North Macedonia and Albania to formally begin negotiations to join the European Union, a process that has been long delayed by bilateral differences between countries in the volatile region.

Bujar Osmani, North Macedonia’s foreign minister, signed the protocol with his Bulgarian counterpart in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, on Sunday.

The move came a day after North Macedonia’s parliament approved a European Union proposal aimed at helping resolve a Balkan conflict and unlocking the body’s enlargement.

Bulgaria had for years blocked the start of accession talks due to a dispute over the recognition of the Macedonian language and the rights of Bulgarian nationals within North Macedonia. Albania’s negotiations have also been delayed as it has been tied to North Macedonia in the accession process.

Roadmap to resolution

The document signed on Sunday will guide Bulgaria and North Macedonia through resolving the disputes.

“For us it is a historic opportunity that after 17 years of candidate country status, the Republic of North Macedonia has the opportunity to start accession negotiations with the European Union,” Osmani told reporters.

On Saturday, 68 MPs in North Macedonia’s 120-member assembly voted in favor of a motion to let the government support a negotiating framework offered by the EU.

In approving the EU’s proposal, “we remain on the only path to which no one has offered an alternative,” Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski said Thursday at the start of the three-day debate. “We are starting to move quickly and change the country in the negotiation process.”

The deal may allow North Macedonia to hold its first intergovernmental conference with the EU – the official start of negotiations – “within the next few days”, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told lawmakers in Skopje.

The US State Department welcomed Saturday’s vote. “We recognize the difficult trade-offs considered in this compromise, which recognizes and respects the cultural identity of North Macedonia and the Macedonian language,” Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken said in an emailed statement.

The former Yugoslav country has faced multiple obstacles on its path to Western integration, including the need to change its official name to resolve a dispute with neighboring Greece before it joins NATO in 2020.

Still, the deal has sparked tensions in North Macedonia, where thousands of people have been protesting for two weeks. The opposition said the EU proposal did not sufficiently guarantee recognition of the country’s language and national identity. Both the Skopje government and EU officials rejected these claims.

Opposition MPs harassed Kovaczewski on Thursday, holding placards reading “No!” and blowing vuvuzelas, a type of horn, as he spoke. Thousands of people protested outside the parliament building, while ten people were arrested.

The EU-backed deal seeks to ease doubts among Balkan countries that the bloc remains committed to enlargement, amid concerns about growing Russian influence. Their fears of being left behind have intensified since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, which prompted EU leaders to push for a decision to approve both Ukraine and Moldova as candidate members.

Source: Capital

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