BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2019) The first day of the European Council meeting has not led to any agreement on beginning talks on the accession of Albania and North Macedonia to the European Union, a source said on the sidelines of the meeting early on Friday.
The two-day summit of EU leaders began on Thursday. The EU enlargement in the Western Balkans has been high on the meeting agenda alongside Turkey's military operation in Northern Syria.
The source told reporters that during the first day of the summit, the EU leaders adopted a joint statement on Turkey but have not agreed upon the enlargement issue.
France has been against opening the talks with Albania and North Macedonia.
Late on Thursday, a source in one of the delegations said that the EU leaders had failed to convince France to make concessions on the issue.
Both Albania and North Macedonia are candidate states for joining the European Union.
In June, European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said it was decided that the opening of the accession talks with the two countries would be postponed and the European Union revert to this issue no later than in October.
