EU Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi said, on Thursday 27 February, that Albania and North Macedonia had made enough progress to get EU accession negotiations opened in March.
“My assessment is that progress should be considered to be sufficient”, he announced after a meeting of ministers from the Visegrad Group (V4) and Western Balkan countries in Prague.
According to the Commissioner, there has been “serious progress in both countries" and “very down to earth results” achieved “in a very short period of time”. However, he said that he did not want to pre-empt the progress reports that the Commission is expected to issue in early March. On the basis of this assessment, the European Affairs ministers will have to take a decision at the end of March on whether or not to open these negotiations.
An opening widely supported by the V4 countries. “Both countries have fulfilled the conditions for moving forward to the next stages, there is no reason for further delays”, explained Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček. “It is of crucial importance to reach a consensus on a positive decision in March”, he said, adding that the V4 also supported the Commission in accelerating the European integration of the other Western Balkan countries.
In a joint declaration, the V4 ministers recall “their long-term and unequivocal support for the efforts of the Western Balkan partners to join the EU”. They also warn that they will continue to support the accession aspirations of “all the partners in the Western Balkans” - including Kosovo, which is not recognised by Slovakia - and underline their “firm and determined support for the launch of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania”.
The declaration also calls on the countries of the Western Balkans to make progress in the reform areas identified by the Commission and to gradually align themselves with EU policies.
See the joint statement of the V4 ministers: http://bit.ly/39clu5a (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)