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Ahead of EU summit: France blocks negotiations with Balkan states

2019-10-15T17:08:30.315Z


Actually, Albania and Northern Macedonia have long since implemented all necessary reforms. Nevertheless, France opposes EU accession negotiations - to the incomprehension of the Federal Government.



Northern Macedonia and Albania must continue to wait for the hoped-for start of EU accession negotiations. France, the Netherlands and Denmark blocked an EU decision in favor of the two Balkan countries at a ministerial meeting, citing doubt on reform progress.

The Paris government also called for a fundamental reform of the accession process as a condition for approval. Unlike the Netherlands and Denmark, she did not even want to agree to start talks with North Macedonia.

"Unfortunately, today it has not been possible to come to a unanimous decision," commented current Finnish Ministerial Council Chairman Tytti Tuppurainen after several hours of deliberations in Luxembourg. EU Council President Donald Tusk wants to put the issue on the agenda of Thursday's EU summit.

Germany reacts with incomprehension

Germany and many other EU states reacted with incomprehension to developments. They pointed out that Albania and North Macedonia had fulfilled the conditions required by the EU according to the opinions of the European Commission. The start of the accession talks had been promised to the two countries in this case.

The federal government is "very disappointed" about the fact that you obviously can not keep what you have promised on several occasions, said European Affairs Minister Michael Roth (SPD). France's Secretary of State for Europe Amélie de Montchalin said: "We think that we need to fundamentally reform the negotiation process." One reason she mentioned was that countries such as Romania or Bulgaria still had "migratory flows" even after the start of accession negotiations.

By contrast, countries such as Germany fear that Albania and North Macedonia will increasingly turn to countries such as Russia, China or Turkey for renewed disappointment, and that reforms for more democracy and the rule of law will be endangered. If the EU fails to increase its presence in the Western Balkans, it threatens a political vacuum that will be filled by other powers, Roth said.

This is particularly problematic because the Balkans are in the midst of the EU and bordering on member countries such as Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Croatia. If there is a security problem in North Macedonia and Albania, it could automatically become a security problem for the EU.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2019-10-15

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