- For months, the French State and the Netherlands have rejected the accession of both countries to the European Union, as French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron said he would continue to block their entry "until the process of admitting new partners was changed". Now, however, they have lifted the blockade and, in this way, have been able to start negotiations with the controllers.
The assembly, which gave its approval to the two countries, had to celebrate it by videoconference, due to the coronavirus crisis. Croatian Minister for European Affairs, Andreja Metelko Zgombic, has chaired the meeting held by the 27 countries of the Union. “Good news, historic news for these two countries,” the minister said in a statement.
The spokesmen of both countries have also been pleased with the evolution of the negotiations, which has borne fruit. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was pleased: “It’s good news, even if he’s had a delay that we haven’t affected him,” he criticized the states that have been blocking his participation.
Northern Macedonia’s Prime Minister, Olives Spasovsky, has stated that this is a ‘proud day’. “From Brussels we received this nice news, which we very much hope for at a very difficult time for this country, for Europe and for the whole world. This victory comes after 15 years of waiting. We have the open road and the only direction is to move forward.”
Many conditions
The condition for France to lift the veto on Albania and Northern Macedonia was to tighten the conditions for entry into the European Union. And that is what Brussels has done, because if, after the negotiations have begun, they believe that the process has lost its way, the new measures allow everything to be suspended. Even if the negotiations are already closed.
In addition, the two new candidates will have to show "respect" for the values of the European Union and implement "profound" reforms. Ensure their status as rule of law, establish their market economy and link them to the Union’s foreign policy, among others.
Years on hold
A new country joined the European Union for the last time in 2013: Croatia. It is the only country in the Balkans that is part of the European Union, but not because others did not want it. Montenegro and Serbia are waiting to re-enter the Tour de France 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Even longer have been the hopes of Northern Macedonia and Albania, which have suffered some setback. In fact, Northern Macedonia is one of the countries proposed to join the European Union since 2005. There have been reforms, including changing the name of the State: The republic that bears the name of Macedonia is now Northern Macedonia, following the disturbances that have occurred with Greece.
Albania was introduced in 2009 to join the European Union, after which it was rejected by Germany. In order for Batasuna to become the candidate country, it had to carry out several reforms in the area of justice and, among other things, it had to strengthen the fight against crime and corruption.