EU Members Closer to Consensus on Start of Talks after PPO Law Adoption

With the adoption of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO) Law, EU Member States are increasingly closer to consensus on a start of negotiations with Skopje, but the main danger will now be the package with Albania. Though Sunday’s EU-Western Balkans informal meeting in Brussels has ended several dilemmas, it has also raised the pressing issue, that is, whether Macedonia will fail to get a date in spring, too, if it’s part of a package with its western neighbour. Croatian PM Andrej Plenkovic explains that the European Commission’s goal is for negotiations to be opened with both Tirana and Skopje in March and that the most important thing is that French President Macron’s stand has seriously softened, but that the position of the unpredictable Netherlands and Denmark is still unclear. “If there hadn’t been a change of the methodology, France’s position wouldn’t have changed. It’s much more important that France has changed its position, that President Macron gave a clear signal in Munich,” he points out, adding that Denmark and the Netherlands, which were reserved in October, will now need to be convinced in a nice manner. However, what’s currently crucial is the type of progress report Skopje and Tirana will get in the coming weeks. The Commission’s President, Ursula von der Leyen, points out that the goal is to open the European path. “You know that the Western Balkans are a priority for our Commission. I think it is in our common geostrategic interest to have the Western Balkans as close as possible to the European Union. You know that we have revised our methodology and the methodology in its revised form should create and regain trust on all sides in this process. Because it is accelerating the structural reforms and on the other hand, it is creating a credible perspective for the Western Balkans to join over time the European Union. We want also to pave the way for North Macedonia and Albania to start the accession talks with the European Union if possible before the Zagreb Summit. For the Summit itself, we are preparing an investment package by the Commission, and I hope very much that the Council will give now green light for this prospect,” she says. A delegation of the Government led by caretaker PM Oliver Spasovski and Deputy PM for European Affairs Bujar Osmani started on Monday a visit to Brussels. In its frames, they met Matthew Palmer, the US Secretary of State’s Special Representative for Western Balkans. Previously, Spasovski had met the Commission’s President, too, participated in the donors’ conference for Albania, and was part also of the luncheon organised by Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi for Western Balkan leaders.