EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said on Wednesday that there is less and less chance that Albania and Macedonia will get EU negotiating frameworks by the end of the year.

I still hope, but unfortunately it is less and less certain that we can adopt a negotiating framework this year, Varhelyi told the EP during a debate on the situation in the Western Balkans, 25 years after the Dayton Agreement.

He pointed out that the European Commission and the German presidency of the EU are still working with the member states in an attempt to find a solution for the new European integration step of Skopje and Tirana.

Varhelyi said that Macedonia “must make additional efforts to meet Bulgaria’s concerns” in order to find a solution that is acceptable to both countries.

Due to disagreements over the national and cultural identity of Macedonia, Bulgaria is currently blocking Skopje on the way to opening the first negotiation chapters.

On the other hand, some member states, led by the Netherlands and France, believe that Albania has not achieved a sufficient level of reform in the key area of ​​the rule of law to give it “green light” for the negotiating framework.