It may be years before the two Balkan countries actually join the European Union.
After years of delays, the European Union has opened the actual accession process with North Macedonia and Albania. “The people of Albania and North Macedonia deserve it,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a joint appearance with the heads of government of both countries in Brussels.
“We are ready for the European Union,” stressed North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski. His country wants to “set a positive example of the fastest integration of a member state into the European Union, just as we integrated into NATO the fastest”. North Macedonia had previously agreed to a constitutional amendment to address concerns from neighboring Bulgaria. One of the issues at stake was the rights of the Bulgarian minority.
The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama thanked von der Leyen, but also former Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) for their commitment. The two German politicians “fought tirelessly” for the Balkans, stressed Rama.
EU Commission starts “screening”
Two intergovernmental conferences will take place in Brussels later today. The so-called negotiation frameworks are officially presented to the two candidate countries. They are a prerequisite for the EU Commission to be able to start with the so-called screenings. In these procedures, the authority examines the extent to which the national law of the candidate country deviates from EU legislation and requires appropriate adjustments for different areas.
The commission can then make recommendations for the opening of so-called negotiation chapters. In order for them to be implemented, however, a unanimous decision by the EU member states is required again.
Overall, the negotiation process can take many years and can be stopped again if problems arise. The EU began accession talks with Turkey in 2005. However, these were put on hold again a few years ago because of developments in the area of the rule of law that Brussels considered unacceptable.
