Bujar Osmani, Zoran Zaev’s Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU integration, warned that if Macedonia doesn’t receive a date to open accession talks, it could undermine the Prespa treaty.
I think that if June or 2019 are taken off the table for accession talks, the entire process could collapse, including the Prespa treaty, and the dynamism in our reforms and inter-ethnic relations. Therefore it is very important that the member states stick to our agreement, that if we meet our obligations, EU will also meet its obligations toward us, said Osmani.
His statement comes after the humiliating Berlin summit, where Zaev, Osmani and Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov hoped to get Angela Merkel to persuade Emmanuel Macron to approve the opening of EU accession talks. Instead, France is talking about stabilization of the Balkans, but no EU integration.
Osmani said that Merkel directed the Macedonian delegation to ask the German Bundestag to discuss on Macedonia’s progress in order to prevent a situation when even Germany could block the opening of accession talks. Meanwhile, Osmani acknowledged that France and the Netherlands could be the main obstacle, but expressed hope it would not be the case. Osmani also acknowledged that it is possible that Macedonia would be denied opening of EU accession talks because it is seen as lumped together with Albania.
There is a hypothetical – only hypothetical – option that if Albania and Macedonia are evaluated together, and if some member state has some doubts about one of the candidate countries, then the other could be held back as collateral damage. But, I believe that the evaluation should be done individually, said Osmani.
Zaev reportedly threatened Merkel and Macron that he will resign if accession talks are not opened. In a matter of months at the latest we will see if this threat, or Osmani’s threat that the Prespa treaty will collapse if no accession talks will work.
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