German State Secretary for European Affairs Michael Roth confirmed, on Tuesday 8 December during the videoconference of the General Affairs Council, that there has been no agreement between the EU Member States on negotiating boxes for the accession procedures for North Macedonia and Albania, nor on EU Council conclusions on the enlargement countries.
“We very much regret that the EU could not agree on a common negotiating box and EU Council conclusions”, Mr Roth explained after the videoconference. Traditionally, in December, the General Affairs Council adopts conclusions on candidate and potential candidate countries for EU membership.
Mr Roth hoped that a solution could be found in the next few days or, at the latest, under the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council, which begins on 1 January. Bulgaria continues to block the negotiating box for North Macedonia and, in turn, other Member States are blocking that of Albania (see EUROPE 12617/21).
He added that the still unmet goal of starting accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania was long overdue. The German EU Council Presidency initially hoped to be able to organise the first Intergovernmental Conferences (IGC) before the end of the year.
For the Secretary of State, this lack of European consensus is a “hard blow” for the EU’s policy towards the Western Balkans.
Twenty MEPs call for agreement
Ahead of the ministers’ meeting, 24 MEPs asked the EU Council “to approve the negotiating boxes (...) and to stop further delaying EU accession negotiations. The current deadlock is jeopardising the credibility of the Union in the Western Balkans”, they stressed in a joint statement.
MEPs from the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, and Greens/EFA groups called on Sofia and Skopje to find a compromise on outstanding bilateral issues. “In order to recognise the country's efforts in the EU accession process, Bulgaria should approve the opening of the IGC with North Macedonia as soon as possible, but in any case before the end of December”, MEPs argued.
They also called on Albania to make the necessary efforts to fulfil all the conditions set out in the EU Council conclusions for the first IGC. “Efforts must also be made by some Member States, which currently express doubts about giving Albania the green light for the opening of the IGC, by working with Tirana to address their concerns”, the MEPs added.
See the Members’ letter: https://bit.ly/36WF3Q9 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)