North Macedonia: EU Has a Problem, but We’re Not Giving Up

Jerusalem, 23 June, 2021 (TPS) -- Skopje, 23 June 2021 (MIA)/TPS – The vision of united Europe today is facing a problem and the problem is the EU itself. Brussels told us the EU couldn’t manage to find a way to secure the much-deserved integration of the Western Balkans. The fact that 26 EU member states couldn’t prevent a blockade from one member is the problem of Europe caused by the EU itself, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told Wednesday a joint news conference alongside his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama after the 1st Skopje Economic Forum.

We are not alone and we’ll never be alone, he said. “The Macedonian people and the Albanian people are sharing the same vision, the same values, which are also European values. We won’t stop and I know we are joined in this process by Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

The alarm is on, Zaev said, because the essence and values of the EU are being put into question.

“The European values are shared by not only the EU member countries but also by the candidate countries and these same values are being promoted in the Western Balkans – inclusivity, mobility, tolerance, justice and solidarity,” Zaev told the news conference.

Bulgaria, he added, couldn’t gather enough strength to approve the opening of EU negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania following last week’s visit to Sofia and the calls of the international community that it is the right time for breakthrough.

“Even though we lowered the expectations, EU’s decision not to schedule the first intergovernmental conference with North Macedonia and Albania is nevertheless a major disappointment,” Zaev said noting that Bulgaria’s move not to give the green light to the negotiating framework despite the other 26 member countries being in favor is not in the spirit of good neighborly relations.

The PM urged once again that EU integration processes cannot be held hostage by bilateral issues.

For Skopje and Tirana, Zaev said, Europe remains the only alternative and strategic national objective and the two countries are making sincere efforts to meet the goal.

Echoing the same sentiment, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said the EU has once again failed to reach the right decision.

“Whatever happens, whatever it is decided in Brussels, we remain committed to strengthening economy, improving living standards and protecting our dignity,” Rama told the news conference commenting on Bulgaria’s blockade of the start of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania.