October 12 (SeeNews) - Hungary's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto has called on the European Union (EU) to designate before the end of the year a date for the start of accession talks with Albania and Macedonia.
The accession talks with Albania and Macedonia should begin no later than the first quarter of 2018, while the EU should also identify attainable integration goals and a timetable in respect of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, Szijjarto said, according to a press release issued by the Hungarian government on Wednesday.
The Hungarian government also demands that the EU opens six new chapters in the accession talks with Serbia and three with Montenegro by the end of 2017, Szijjarto said during a meeting of the foreign ministers of the countries of the Visegrad Group, Western Balkans and Central Europe in Budapest.
Serbia has so far started talks on 10 of the 35 chapters of EU law and has closed negotiations on two. Montenegro has started talks on 28 of the chapters.
The implementation of a strategy which promotes and accelerates the processes of EU integration of the Western Balkans is in Central Europe’s best interest, Szijjarto said, and added that an unstable Western Balkans region encumbered with tensions poses a major threat to Central Europe as well as to the whole of Europe.
Albania has been granted an official candidate status by the Council of the EU in June 2014. However, in November 2016, Germany announced that it would veto the opening accession talks until 2018, as Tirana needs to strengthen the rule of law, starting with the reform of its judicial system.
Macedonia has been a candidate for accession to the European Union since 2005 but accession negotiations have not started yet. Greece vetoed the start of Macedonia's EU membership negotiations in December 2009 over a dispute over the country's name.