Plenković: Let’s give North Macedonia, Albania a chance

By: MIA

My argument is “let’s give them a chance and start because nobody can today, with the high level of uncertainty, predict the length of the process,” Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in an interview with Greek Euronews commenting on North Macedonia and Albania’s European perspective, MIA’s Athens correspondent reports.

“Our ambition is to talk to those who are unconvinced and tell them that it is better for the stability of the region, it is better for the European future of our neighborhood that the process starts,” Plenković adds.

Speaking about the latest EU Summit when a decision to set a date for accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania was not reached, the Croatian PM said that both countries have done a lot in terms of criteria that were required, “and that is why the European Commission, again, just like in the Schengen case for Croatia, stated: “now is the right time to open these accession negotiations.”

Asked what went wrong in terms of the non-decision to get a date for opening accession negotiations, Plenković said there were many reasons according to him.

“I think there were many reasons. Some of them were more the analysis of few member states whether the evaluation, whether everything was ready, was fully accurate or not and the other one was a more general consideration vis a vis the enlargement process and also the consideration vis a vis the better functioning of the EU as it is today, the EU of the 28,” he told Greek Euronews.