TIRANA – European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi confirmed on Tuesday that negotiating frameworks for Albania and North Macedonia will come in June, while the annual reports are due in the autumn.
The aim of this delay is more time for the reforms to be delivered and better predictability in view of COVID-19, Várhelyi wrote on Twitter as quoted by EWB.
European Commission reports were originally scheduled for April, then delayed for June due to the Coronavirus outbreak, before being delayed again. Negotiating framework for Albania and North Macedonia will have to be adopted by the Council of the European Union.
The Zagreb Summit dedicated to Western Balkans, which was held on May 6 this year, did not include in its Joint Declaration the timeframe for the start of the EU accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia, and it also avoided any reference to enlargement, which was not received well by the aspirant countries. /argumentum.al
