EU agrees to open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia

Member state ministers unblock way for Western Balkans to join bloc

(Reuters)

The EU has agreed to open accession talks with two countries with a view to them joining the bloc.

Ministers from member states gave the green light to negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia on Tuesday.

The two countries have been candidates since 2005 but progress has stalled amid opposition from some member states.

Most recently last year France's Emmanuel Macron led a small group of member states blocking the opening of talks.

Mr Macron said the accession and enlargement process needed to be reformed before he would consider admitting more countries to the union.

The decision was described by then outgoing Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker as a "historic error", while then Council president Donald Tusk agreed it was "a mistake".

The two countries join Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey as candidates who are negotiating. Bosnia also wishes to become a candidate, as does disputed Kosovo.

The latest move to allow talks to start was taken by a video-conference of ministers rather than a meeting in person as a precaution during the coronavirus outbreak.

"We reached a political decision to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia," Croatia's European Affairs minister, Andreja Metelko Zgombic, said after chairing the videoconference meeting.

The minister described the decision as "good news, historic news, for those two countries" and said EU leaders were likely to rubber stamp it on Thursday.

“[I am] very pleased that EU member states today reached political agreement on opening of accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia," said the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi

"I wholeheartedly congratulate both countries. This also sends a loud and clear message to Western Balkans: your future is in EU".

The political decision between member states will be formalised by EU heads of state and government. They were due to meet this week in Brussels but the summit was cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The decision to admit North Macedonia comes after the country resolved a decades-long dispute with Greece by changing its name from Macedonia, which is also the name of a Greek region.

Talks are likely to be drawn out over a number of years: would-be member states must negotiate 35 so-called chapters, or policy areas, to join the bloc, including financial, agriculture, transport, energy, social and justice policy alignment.