Croatia Seeks Agreement On Tirana, Skopje EU Accession Talks Before May Summit - Gov't

The Croatian presidency of the Council of the European Union will push to solve the issue of starting accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia before a planned summit in May, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told Sputnik

DAVOS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2020) The Croatian presidency of the Council of the European Union will push to solve the issue of starting accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia before a planned summit in May, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told Sputnik.

At an EU summit in October, France, Denmark and the Netherlands blocked a decision to begin accession talks with Tirana and Skopje. This drew criticism from the European Parliament, which passed a resolution that called the refusal to open talks a strategic mistake.

Plenkovic said that the Croatian presidency will now work to undo any impasse within the European Council, while also noting that the European Commission's upcoming plans to review the methodology for accession negotiations may be received well by the countries who, in October, blocked negotiations.

The Croatian prime minister added that he believed that Albania and North Macedonia would continue to make progress in reforming judicial processes and fighting against corruption, helping pave the way for EU accession.

Plenkovic also stated that he hoped all EU member states would agree on the question of opening accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia before a planned EU-Western Balkans summit, scheduled to take place in the Croatian capital of Zagreb on May 6-7.

France, in particular, has been a vocal critic of further enlarging the European Union, and in November proposed tightening the accession process through a new seven-stage procedure. The move was criticized by many leading EU officials.