SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
Sunday night saw a working dinner between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. According to the announcements, they had been supposed to talk, among other things, about the issue of a start of negotiations for Macedonia, following the Bundestag’s approval. Before the start of the working dinner, primarily dedicated to the preparation of the future joint meeting of the French and German Governments in Toulouse on Wednesday, both leaders had talked about the Turkey’s Syria offensive. A lot of open issues on the menu: the Brexit issue, the appointment of the European Commission and the Turkish offensive, it was reported. It remains unknown whether Macedonia’s road to a date for membership talks was discussed. According to the diplomatic sources from Brussels, France is the only country that considers that Macedonia doesn’t meet the necessary conditions to get a date. Macron’s stand is isolated because the four heads of the European institutions urged, in a joint letter, last week a date for a start of negotiations for both Macedonia and Albania. This rejection is causing discontent among European diplomats, who have accused Paris of endangering stability of the Balkans, for whose stability Paris officially pledges, even more so because the EU twice delayed a start of talks. Despite requests on the phone and in writing, Paris didn’t respond to journalists’ questions about world news agencies about blocking a start of negotiations.
