The Czech Republic and other EU member states are worried about the French proposal over the start accession negotiations with Macedonia, said Jana Juzova, a researcher at the Czech Europeum Institute, in her online address at the 2022 Europeum forum, organized by the European Policy Institute (EPI).

Speaking about the practical challenges regarding the Western Balkans that the Czech Republic will have to deal with during the EU presidency, Juzova said that the Czech Republic and the majority of member states see the serious problems in the French proposal and understand why it is so difficult for Macedonia to accept it. 

According to what we heard from the Czech MoFA, they are very upset with France and Bulgaria, and the reason is that other member states were not consulted on the proposal. Only Bulgaria was consulted, and the rest of the countries were left in the dark, said Juzova.

The Czech approach, according to Juzova, will be to do as little damage as possible, somehow mitigate the negative effects and, as she said, ensure that this does not become a permanent precedent.

Even if a compromise is reached, it will not be something that Macedonia will be happy with and we can only speculate about the consequences it will have. We must ensure that this does not become a precedent that will be used by other member states towards candidates, said Juzova.

Referring to information from the Czech presidency of the EU, Juzova said that even if Skopje rejects the French proposal, Prague does not at all consider separating Macedonia and Albania on the way to the EU.