SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
Angela Merkel
In a speech at the German Bundestag, Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her country’s stand for support of Macedonia’s and Albania’s European perspective. According to her, there were attempts to convince EU Member States that are still reserved over that course. “Those countries want to make the accession process more transparent,” Merkel said. As the Chancellor added, in any case, the chances of a unanimous decision at the summit are not good. European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen stated before the start of the EU summit that there was no signal that a decision on the enlargement would be reached at the meeting. She expressed deep regret over that because, in her view, the countries have made enormous efforts to approach the EU, which is why it’s very important for them to be given a true signal. According to Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov, the EU will make a historic mistake if it doesn’t allow Skopje and Tirana to start negotiations. His Croatian counterpart, Andrej Plenkovic, considers that though there can be a debate on a new negotiations methodology, the rules cannot be changed now. Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed support for the Euro-integration path of the Western Balkan countries. Estonia, too, supports negotiations for Macedonia, as do Slovenian PM Marjan Sarec, European Parliament President David Sassoli and Party of European Socialists (PES) President Sergei Stanishev. The Italian and Polish Ambassadors, Carlo Romeo and Wojciech Tycinski, respectively, remain optimistic that Thursday or Friday will see EU leaders approve a start of negotiations for Macedonia because, in their view, the country has met all conditions.
