Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani, who is tasked with advancing EU integration, struck a somber note today during a lecture in Struga. Osmani told the participants at the event that the “relations within the EU itself are complex” and outcomes are “not easy to predict”, but that he remains hopeful Macedonia will allowed to open the EU accession talks.

If there is a new Commission report in February and if it is positive, then in March we can see the conditions for a decision. But the relations in the EU are too complex. It is important that we are ready, and if possible adopt the law on state prosecutors, Osmani said, confirming that the meltdown in the Macedonian judiciary is beginning to affect the EU accession process.

Until a few months ago, Osmani was assuring the public that the accession talks will begin in October, and in June before that.