EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn has confirmed that EU accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia will not open.
EU leaders failed to live up to their commitment to open accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania at EUCO [European Council].
Hahn expressed his disappointment on Twitter, and stated this was “not a moment of glory for the EU”. He warned of the “risk of destabilization of the Western Balkans” that would fully impact the EU.
He also removed all responsibility from the governments of Albania and North Macedonia, despite several countries raising serious concerns about the progress, especially in Albania, of reforms.
And just to be clear: the responsibility for this failure is not with the countries who hoped rightly for a positive decision. They delivered! It was the EU which failed to deliver because of internal issues.
Hahn further failed to mention any responsibility of his own, or the European Commission Directorate-General NEAR, for failing to book any progress in the EU enlargement process.
It remains unclear whether the EU leaders will set a date today for reverting to the issue of accession talk with the two Balkan countries.
Euractiv reported earlier that France, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark were considering a compromise to push the topic back to April or May 2020, in order to appease France and for its potential reforming of the enlargement process to take off in the meantime.
