The Council of the European Union decided to start negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia on joining the EU.
This was announced by Petr Fiala, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, which presides over the EU Council
“The EU Council, led by the Czech Republic, has just agreed to start accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia! We have taken another important step towards bringing the Western Balkans closer to the EU. This is a great success of our presidency," Fiala wrote.
He added that he would meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski on Tuesday to discuss the next steps on their path to the EU.
Just to remind, on June 24, the Parliament of Bulgaria voted to cancel the veto on the further European integration of North Macedonia. There they agreed to give permission to continue the negotiations if the Macedonians fulfilled certain conditions. The deputies emphasized that they are ready to lift the veto if North Macedonia effectively implements the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation from 2017 and enshrines the rights of Bulgarians on a par with other peoples in the countryʼs Constitution.
What is the conflict?
The accession of North Macedonia to the EU and NATO is accompanied by conflicts with its neighbors — Greece and Bulgaria. At first, Greece opposed the name of this country, believing that only a Greek region could be called Macedonia. Finally, in 2018, the Macedonians changed their name to North Macedonia, and Greece unblocked the countryʼs entry into NATO.
However, after that, Bulgaria began to block the accession of North Macedonia to the EU. Macedonia received the status of a candidate for EU accession in 2005, but since then, due to the blockade of its neighbors, it has not started accession negotiations. Bulgaria believes that "anti-Bulgarian ideology" is being carried out in North Macedonia and denying historical ties with Bulgarians. They believe the Macedonian historical national heroes were Bulgarians, and the Macedonian language is Bulgarian.