TIRANA (Albania), June 18 (SeeNews) – The Council of the European Union said on Tuesday it discuss the issue of opening accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia no later than October in light of the limited time available and the importance of the matter.
The Council reaffirmed its position of June 26, 2018 for Albania and North Macedonia, it said in a statement on adopted conclusions on EU enlargement and the stabilisation and association process.
The Council takes good note of the European Commission's recommendation to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia based on its positive evaluation of the progress made and of the fulfillment of the conditions identified by the Council, the statement reads.
As many as 13 European Union member states said last week they are calling for the opening of accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia later this month.
“Starting the negotiations in June 2019 will also contribute to strengthening the countries’ resilience to external, detrimental interests of other players and ensure that the EU continues to be the leading player for a positive regional transformation," the foreign ministers of the 13 EU member states said in a joint statement back then.
The Council also said in its statement it strongly welcomes the historic and unprecedented agreement between Skopje and Greece on the name of the ex-Yugoslav republic, as well as North Macedonia's treaty on good neighbourly relations with Bulgaria.
North Macedonia is a EU candidate country since 2005 and Albania since 2014.