German Chancellor Olaf Solz has called for the immediate start of accession talks with eligible Western Balkan countries.
As part of his Balkan tour on Saturday morning, the German Chancellor visited Skopje, coming from Thessaloniki. where he had attended the Summit dinner of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP). After a meeting with the Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, the Chancellor stated that “the accession negotiations, which we promised two years ago, must now begin. I will support the request, in any case “. Northern Macedonia had been granted “candidate country” status since 2005, but the start of negotiations is delayed, initially due to the name dispute with Greece and now due to objections raised by neighboring Bulgaria.
Olaf Solz characteristically stated that “it is time, after the words, for works to follow” and that “Applies par excellence to Northern Macedonia”, which “has met all the criteria for the start of accession negotiations”. In fact, the chancellor made a brief reference to the resolution of the nomenclature with Greece, saying that “once this has been resolved, the other issues can be settled.” For his part, the Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia thanked the Chancellor for his support to Berlin and expressed the hope that at the forthcoming EU summit (June 23 and 24), his country will indeed receive the “green light” for the start of negotiations. .
“Thorns” in Sofia and Belgrade
However, the difficulties have not disappeared and this was clearly seen in Sofia, the next stop of the Solts tour in the area. “The reformist government of Kirill Petkov seems to be insisting on its objections. The EU should offer guarantees that the Constitution of Northern Macedonia will contain a special reference to the Bulgarians living in the country, in order to safeguard their rights,” Petkov said. . German media note that Bulgaria is going through a new political crisis, as only last Wednesday the populist party ITN left the governing coalition, with the result that Prime Minister Petkov lost his majority in Parliament. The reason for the intergovernmental conflicts was the adoption of the budget, but also the bilateral relations with Northern Macedonia.
For Olaf Solz, the most difficult mission of the last few days was probably his trip to Belgrade. In his meeting with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar VuÏ„Ï‚i., called on him to join the EU sanctions on Russia, to get the answer that this can not be done so easily, as Serbia has traditionally had close relations with Moscow, while at the same time its economy depends on imports of Russian natural gas. Vucic rejects Olaf Solz’s recommendation that Serbia recognize Kosovo before joining the EU, saying that so far no one has demanded such a thing during the accession negotiations and that in this issue his country does not accept pressure or threats. It is recalled that Serbia has been a candidate country since 2011.
Is Ukraine’s accession perspective “closer”?
Meanwhile, top European officials appear to be seriously discussing Ukraine’s European perspective, and in particular the possibility of being granted “candidate country status” at the forthcoming EU summit. Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv for talks with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, on the application for membership submitted by the Ukrainian government. The same day, the Speaker of the German Parliament, Berbel Bass, called for Ukraine to join the EU. The request of Kiev to receive “candidate country status” by the end of June was repeated a few days ago by the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaking at the Plenary Session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
DW – Giannis Papadimitriou
