SKOPJE/TIRANA/BELGRADE (dpa-AFX) – The leaders of the three Western Balkan countries Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia are considering staying away from the EU summit in this week. In addition to the EU candidate status for Ukraine, the summit starting on Thursday will also discuss the accession prospects for the western Balkan states.
The reason for the possible absence of the three is the veto threat from EU member country Bulgaria, which has been blocking the start of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania for more than two years. As a precondition for the accession talks with North Macedonia, Sofia demands that questions of “common history”, language and national identity be discussed.
He recommended that North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski not travel to the Brussels EU summit, State President Stevo Pendarovski told the Skopje-based TV station TV24 Casa on Tuesday evening. “It is unacceptable that historical issues and language disputes are included in the negotiating framework with the EU,” he said.
The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was even clearer. “The whole Union kidnapped by Bulgaria is not a spectacle to watch!” he tweeted on Tuesday. “What are we supposed to do there?”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is also considering joining North Macedonia and Albania in their refusal to participate. Kovacevski, Rama and he would announce their decision on Wednesday afternoon, Vucic wrote on Twitter.
Among other things, the EU summit is to decide on a possible EU candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova. The Western Balkan countries, which also include Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro, are at different stages in the process of rapprochement with the EU./str/gm/DP/nas