BELGRADE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2019) The EU leadership needs to stop manipulating western Balkan states and turning them against each other amid talk that the EU accession process, which Albania and North Macedonia are trying to start, could be changed, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday.
He was speaking at a joint press conference with North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski. Earlier this month, Pendarovski held talks with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the second annual Paris Peace Forum. According to the Macedonian president, Macron presented to the EU countries an unofficial document calling for an overhaul of the EU accession process.
"All of us from the [Balkan] region, when participating in some forums, have learned by heart that we need to recite that the European integration is the most important process for us during talks with Germans, French, Brussels' officials," Vucic said.
He added that such statements were usually followed by complaints of one Balkan country's representative regarding neighboring countries.
"And then these 'fathers and mothers' from Europe used to ask us whether we had heard about problems in Skopje or Belgrade. And we used to happily return home after criticizing our neighbors as if we did a great job for us. Meanwhile, they played with us like with puppets," the president said.
He called on the EU to abandon this policy and stop manipulating Balkan countries.
Last month, France blocked the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. As a result, EU leaders failed to reach a unanimous decision on the countries' accession at their latest summit. A new round of negotiations on the issue was rescheduled for spring 2020. In return, North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev called for snap general elections in the country, saying that Balkan countries had become victims of the EU's historical mistake.
