SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
French President Emmanuel Macron thinks that Macedonia and Albania should be a little more patient before they get an approval to start of membership negotiations. At the joint press-conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after the meeting of the two Governments in Toulouse on Tuesday, he acknowledged that the two countries had made significant progress with domestic reforms. However, for now, that’s not enough. Unlike him, Merkel assessed that there was still a little room until Thursday for the two countries to adjust. “I share the same geopolitical and strategic vision with the German Chancellor, I want to send a positive signal to these leaders, but looking at this seriously leads me to tell them: This time, it’s us who need a bit more time to do things in order,” Macron added. Merkel relativised the theses according to which there is a clash between the her country and Germany over Macedonia’s and Albania’s perspective. Paris and Berlin agree that the Western Balkan countries need an EU perspective. Though Merkel agrees that the process must be made more transparent and reversible, she said that just several “different shades” remained. Both sides want to think until tomorrow how to find a joint position at the EU Summit. “They will need to be acceptable to other EU members, too,” the German Chancellor pointed out.
