During his visit to Brussels today, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev also met with the Speaker of the European Parliament, Italian socialist David Sassoli, to discuss the danger of having Albania open EU accession talks ahead of Macedonia.

According to the Government press release, Zaev insisted that Macedonia will not allow to negotiate on its identity and will not have this issue on the table. Zaev faces demands from Bulgaria that Macedonia makes major concessions on issues of national identity and history, in accordance with the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty. His failure to deliver led to the Bulgarian veto, and Albania now has a chance of opening accession talks ahead of Macedonia.