Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani said he has high hopes from the Croatian Presidency with the European Union which began this year. Osmani met with the Croatian Ambassador Nives Tiganj to discuss the country’s priorities. Macedonia is hoping that it will be allowed to open EU accession talks in 2020, after it was vetoed by France, along with Albania, in October 2019, despite the humiliating name change.

Our expectations are really high and we are aware that Croatia will do its utmost to keep the enlargement process high on the EU agenda, as part of its overall support for the region, which was already announce with the upcoming May summit on the Western Balkans, Osmani said.

Meanwhile, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman, said that the expectations will need to be aligned with the degree of reforms in the Balkan countries.

We need to manage our expectations, while at the same time supporting everything that is realistic and possible. The process to join the EU did not start yesterday. We also worked hard to meet all the criteria and benchmarks, Radman told the N1 television.