Albania and North Macedonia haven’t been able to receive a set date for their first Intergovernmental Conference with the European Union.
The reason behind this is Bulgaria’s veto on North Macedonia because of their language and national identity issues. The news was announced by the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias, who pointed out that the date for the first IGC has been postponed.
“We started of the day with talks on enlargement. Unfortunately, despite all our efforts, it was impossible to reach an accord regarding the accession of negotiations and holding the first Intergovernmental Conference for Albania and North Macedonia. We hope that the Slovenian presidency will be able to determine a date. The European perspective for the Western Balkans is a vital part of the European Union,” she said.
Albania wasn’t able to get a date for the accession of negotiations with the European Union under the Portuguese presidency and now our eyes will be focused on Slovenia, which is expected to take the leadership of the presidency of the European Union.
In regards to Albania, all member states were in “favor” of the first IGC, including countries that have always been skeptical in the past, like the Netherlands. However, disagreements created between Bulgaria and North Macedonia deterred the efforts made by our country, to open a new chapter in our integration road into the EU.
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