North Macedonia, Albania to start accession talks with EU

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The negotiation talks regarding the accession of North Macedonia and Albania to the European Union began today in Brussels, in the presence of EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Both countries discussed chapters of the acquis, a number of topics that correspond to the different areas of the acquis for which reforms are needed in order to meet the accession conditions. 

At present, it is uncertain how long the process will take, as no timeframes have been specified for the completion. 

Long-term candidacies

Albania has been an EU candidate country since 2014, while North Macedonia had held her candidacy since 2005.

The start of negotiations was made possible by the signing on Sunday by Bulgaria and North Macedonia of a bilateral protocol initiated by France, which ensured the continued rotating presidency of the EU in the first half of the year.

The protocol will also allow Macedonian to become one of the official languages of the EU. Bulgaria was blocking the opening of negotiations until recently due to a dispute between the two countries over a long list of historical and linguistic issues.

North Macedonia gained EU candidate status nearly 20 years ago and already had to overcome major obstacles with Greece to join NATO in March 2020. The Bulgarian position also prevented the candidacy of Albania, a candidate since 2014.

The Bulgarian parliament agreed last month to lift its veto in exchange for guarantees that North Macedonia would meet certain demands on disputed points.

Language disputes

The language issue remains very sensitive in North Macedonia: Bulgaria considers the Macedonian language as a Bulgarian dialect, while the two countries dispute over historical events and figures, mainly inherited from the Ottoman past.

North Macedonia has pledged to change its constitution to include Bulgarians among recognized ethnic groups and to implement a 2017 friendship treaty aimed at eradicating hate speech.

Far-right party VMRO-DPMNE has denounced the compromise in recent days and called Dimitar Kovacevski a "traitor" in their online newspapers.

Brussels insists on the enlargement of the EU in the Balkans, and the strategic importance of the region has increased in the context of the war in Ukraine.