EU nations agreed on Tuesday to open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2020) EU nations agreed on Tuesday to open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said.
The announcement came after ministers for EU affairs debated the matter via a video conference earlier in the day.
"Very pleased that #EU member states today reached political agreement on opening of accession talks with #Albania and #North #Macedonia. I wholeheartedly congratulate both countries. This also sends a loud and clear message to #WesternBalkans: your future is in EU," Varhelyi wrote on Twitter.
The issue of opening accession talks with the two countries had been made conditional on the success of domestic reforms conducted by both. Moreover, Skopje was prevented from entering the talks before it struck an agreement with Athens to resolve the name dispute in 2018.
At a European Council summit in October, France, Denmark and the Netherlands blocked the opening of the accession talks, citing the need for further reforms in Albania and North Macedonia.
