EU official: North Macedonia ready for membership talks

The European Union's top enlargement official on Wednesday held out new hope that the block will start accession talks within months with North Macedonia and Albania, whose bids were frustrated last year.

Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said the two countries "are ready" for the start of membership talks, adding that the block's executive will recommend the start of the negotiations in the spring.

Speaking at a joint press conference with caretaker Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski in Skopje, the capital city, Varhelyi also urged North Macedonia to press on with EU-mandated reforms, particularly in the country's judiciary.

He said Skopje should also fully implement a historic name deal that normalized relations with neighboring Greece, and a friendship agreement with another neighbor, Bulgaria.

The deal with Greece was supposed to ease North...

Continue reading on: