TIRANA, June 9 – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not visit Tirana as it was reported by some local portals according to which Scholz had accepted the invitation of Prime Minister Edi Rama to visit Albania during his tour in the region. As a matter of fact, the Chancellor will stop in Belgrade and Pristina to continue his tour in Greece, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
According to German media, Scholz is expected to arrive in the region as a ‘crisis manager’. The main goal will be to resolve the crisis between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, which has blocked the opening of EU accession negotiations of this country.
But the Chancellor goes to Sofia as Bulgaria’s ruling coalition was at breaking point on Wednesday after the There’s Such a People party announced that it is leaving the cabinet, although Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, co-leader of the We Continue the Change party, declared that he’s ready to continue governing with a minority administration. The surprise move was announced by There’s Such a People’s leader Slavi Trifonov, who cited Petkov’s policies as the main reason for the decision to quit the government, which could tip Bulgaria into a new political crisis. Trifonov is critical of Petkov’s alleged plans to initiate the lifting of Bulgaria’s veto of North Macedonia’s EU accession talks, put in place by the previous Boyko Borissov-led cabinet in 2020 over historical disputes between the two countries.
Albania is much interested in this visit because its progress of talks with EU is linked with North Macedonia.
/Argumentum.al