The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, in an interview with Euronews on Thursday 6 May, opened the door to the possibility of decoupling the EU accession negotiation processes of North Macedonia and Albania. Both countries are waiting for their first governmental conference which would officially open their negotiation process.
“If we have difficulties again with North Macedonia, i.e. if we cannot convince Bulgaria and North Macedonia (of) a mutually acceptable solution, then the question (is) whether we can move forward with Albania alone. And we will have to look at this issue”, he said.
Asked about this statement, Commission spokesperson Ana Pisonero explained that the Commission’s position had not changed. “We have always said that we would initially like to have the intergovernmental conferences of Albania and North Macedonia held as soon as possible”, she told the media, adding that both countries had met the conditions for the conferences.
Referring to the interview with Mr Várhelyi, the spokeswoman explained that since all Member States had to agree, the Commissioner had pointed out that if there was no agreement on North Macedonia, the possibility of separating the negotiations with the two countries could be examined. She added that such a decision was up to the Member States.
In an interview with EUROPE published on 28 April, the President of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, had hoped that decoupling would not be on the agenda, while acknowledging that if the dispute with Sofia were to continue for a long time, the issue would be legitimate (see EUROPE 12708/1). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)