Country ready for EU accession negotiations: Italian Ambassador

Jerusalem, 3 February, 2020 (TPS) -- By: MIA

 Italy’s position is very clear and transparent. We hope that North Macedonia will open EU accession negotiations very soon, hopefully at the European Council meeting in March, says Italian Ambassador Carlo Romeo in an interview with Radio Free Europe.

“A decision on the opening of negotiations will not be made at the EU-Western Balkans summit in Zagreb. Our hope is that negotiations open as soon as possible, the first opportunity being the Council meeting in March. North Macedonia has met all criteria to open negotiations alongside Albania,” says Ambassador Romeo.

He reiterates Italy’s position that both North Macedonia and Albania have to open accession negotiations, hoping that the debate on the new enlargement methodology would not result in another delay in the opening of negotiations.

“The enlargement policy is still EU’s fundamental policy. We have agreed that EU should be more prepared for new enlargements. We believe that the new methodology could be implemented in parallel with EU reforms, because the negotiations are a long process, a technical and merit-based system for each individual country,” said Romeo.

Asked if adoption of the law on the public prosecutor’s office is a guarantee that the country will start accession negotiations, the Italian Ambassador again referred to Italy’s support to the sooner opening of talks.

“North Macedonia needs to continue with the reform agenda, especially in the rule of law, judiciary independence, serious fight against corruption and organized crime. In this regard, the law’s adoption before the Parliament’s dissolution is important because it will send a good signal to Brussels and EU members, but we believe it is not a new criterion for the opening of the accession negotiations,” notes Romeo.