The Bundestag approved the accession of Macedonia to NATO, but emerged sharply divided over the main prize which the Zaev regime is expecting – the opening of European Union accession talks. Green MP Jurgen Trittin said that the Merkel Government is itself divided and that Merkel herself and her ruling conservatives are opposed to EU accession talks for Macedonia.

The Chancellor is against opening accession talks, but the Foreign Ministry is in favor of it. The coalition can’t reach agreement on the issue, Trittin said.

The Foreign Ministry in Germany is historically led by the social-democratic party SPD, and due its close ties to Zaev’s SDSM party, it has favored his ascent to power and the opening of accession talks with the EU, which would solidify his regime.

I suspect that the Chancellor’s office and the CDU wants to postpone the debate on this issue until New Democracy wins power in Greece and blocks North Macedonia from joining the EU, the Green member of the Bundestag added.

Alexis Tsipras is on the verge of a major defeat in the early general elections he called, and Zaev himself also said that he will return his mandate if accession talks are not opened in June.

CDU members of Parliament responded to Trittin telling him that his allegations are not tethered to reality. Zaev faced opposition from France, the Netherlands and Denmark, but increasingly it comes from Germany, and he acknowledged that the Bundestag will likely not approve the opening of accession talks in time.

Criticism of Zaev came from various angles. AfD member of Parliament Petr Bystron pointed out how Macedonia was crucial in ending the migrant crisis in 2016, but suffered a political coup in the process.

We are grateful to Macedonia for closing the Balkan migrant route at Idomeni. As Alexander Gauland noted, “Macedonia did with a few local policemen what Angela Merkel said was impossible: to secure the borders of Europe. And now Albanian nationalists, from the former UCK, are destabilizing the country, attacking the city of Kumanovo in 2015, and are turning Macedonia into a hub of drug smuggling and money laundering, Bystron warned.

Unchecked crime and corruption in the region have become a leading issue raised by countries who are opposed to opening accession talks with Macedonia but especially with Albania. Zaev claims that Germany would rather not give a date for accession talks to Macedonia but leave Albania behind, because that would renew the push for the creation of a Greater Albania by Prime Minister Edi Rama. For this, it’s likely that Germany would support delaying Macedonia and Albania, rather then rewarding Zaev for the name change he is trying to impose on Macedonia.

The CDU members of Parliament who spoke raised the problem of growing crime and the lack of reform in the security system. Christian Schmidt from the CDU welcomed the constructive role played the by main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE in the difficult situation, and urged the opening of accession talks with both countries, but not before noting that Albania is facing certain problems that need to be studied.