The German Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas, does not support the decoupling of Albania and North Macedonia for the EU membership process.
In a joint press conference with his Macedonian counterpart, Germany’s diplomacy chief said that the matter has been discussed earlier but then turned down.
“There have been discussions in the past. Nothing changed, in order for North Macedonia and Albania to be treated under the same package. The German government was engaged a lot during the EU presidency. Now we support the Portuguese presidency to swiftly resolve bilateral matters and with that hold, the first Inter-Governmental Conference for North Macedonia and Albania”, said the German foreign minister.
"Germany is very serious about an #EU perspective for countries in the #WesternBalkans. This holds especially true for #NorthMacedonia: It has fully met the requirements for accession negotiations and is continuing its reform agenda consistently nonetheless." @HeikoMaas (2/2)
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) May 3, 2021
Bujar Osmani, North Macedonia foreign affairs minister shared the same stance.
“Although the Commission evaluates every country based on the progress it has made, experience has shown that a united path is more worthy as you benefit from synergetic effects. North Macedonia has fulfilled all the criteria and it has incorporated 45% of European legislation to its own, 95% of our foreign policies have been harmonized with the joint security policies, we have fulfilled economic and political membership criteria. Hence, we do not see any reason why North Macedonia should be left behind in this process”, Osmani said.
North Macedonia is an official candidate country since 2005. The name dispute with Greece and recent disagreements with Bulgaria on the Macedonian language have hampered the country’s path to the EU.
Germany’s foreign minister Maas also spoke about the “non-paper”.
“The basic principle of German politics is renouncing from border changes”, stated Maas.
- Exclusive | Euronews Albania unveils draft discussed in Brussels on Albania
- European Commission to recommend first IGC for Albania in June
- Chief Negotiator on Albania’s first IGC meets Slovakian State Secretary on Foreign Affairs
