Zaharieva: New Methodology should not Delay Talks with North Macedonia

The Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva said during a conference in Sofia dedicated to the West Balkans that the start of EU membership talks with Macedonia and Albania should not be postponed because of the processes for changing of the enlargement methodology of the EU. “Bulgaria finds a majority of the suggestions in the French draft-methodology on EU enlargement rather acceptable, but that should not mean that North Macedonia and Albania will have to wait for start of the membership talks till after its adoption. I believe that both these processes can be conducted parallel, so I hope that in no longer than six months EU will start the membership talks with North Macedonia and Albania. And we cannot only blame the EU for this, because the candidate-states also bear certain responsibilities. They have achieved a lot indeed, but we must not forget that situations in the Balkans are never black and white only,” Zaharieva said.