TIRANA (Albania), October 4 (SeeNews) – The heads of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament have called on the member states to back opening of accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania, the European Council said.
“We believe that now is the time to open accession talks with both countries,” presidents Jean-Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk and David Sassoli and president-elect Ursula von der Leyen said in a joint letter posted on the website of the European Council late on Thursday.
According to the EU leaders, if the bloc is to uphold its international role and protect its interests, taking a step towards integrating those European countries that have expressed an interest and have fulfilled the requirements for starting the accession process will help achieve this.
“The European Union stands before a strategic choice. Whether the EU decides now to open accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania is a test of the Union’s ability to deliver on its promises and look to the future,” the leaders said.
They stressed that the membership will not happen overnight and there is no guarantee of success. “There is no guarantee of success. There will be a lot of hard work on reforms along the way,” the leaders noted.
North Macedonia is a EU candidate country since 2005 and Albania since 2014.