SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
The German Bundestag will by the end of September approve the European Union starting membership negotiations with Macedonia, while the first chapters would be opened by the end of the year. PM Zoran Zaev received this conviction by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at their meeting in Berlin on Thursday. At the meeting, the German Chancellor said that the country had delivered what had been expected and that the whole process should be completed with integration into the Union. As it was confirmed at the meeting, in both Germany and the other members of the Union, the reforms of the results highlighted in the European Commission’s report have been undisputedly acknowledged and that the Commission’s recommendation is being looked at with positive eyes. “Strong is the conviction that we will be starting this year negotiations for membership in the EU and joining Serbia and Montenegro,” Zaev wrote on his official Facebook page immediately after the meeting. Merkel’s Cabinet, too, issued a press-release, but Macedonia’s European perspectives weren’t mentioned. As it was pointed out there, Zaev and Merkel talked about the Skopje-Berlin relations and about foreign policy issues. As it was added at the end of the press-release, it was said that Germany and France had set goals to strengthen the region’s stability and that the resolution to the name dispute was an important component in that regard. Merkel’s stands are confirmed also by MPs from CDU. German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported Johann Wadephul’s statement, according to which first chapters in the negotiations process will be opened in December and Berlin understands neither the anxiousness in Skopje nor the sowing of fear about potential increased influence of third countries in the region.
