Macedonia naming dispute

"If North Macedonia does not accept the French proposal, Albania will continue alone on the path to European integration. I think that is only right, but I hope that this will not be necessary", said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte after his meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama yesterday.

The draft proposal France sent to North Macedonia last week to unclog the country's EU accession talks, by removing the Bulgarian blockade over history and identity issues, is to be sent to the parliament, a meeting between the partners in the ruling Social Democrat-led coalition on Sunday decided.

Offensive and vulgar chants against the European Union and Bulgaria were heard last night during the second protest in front of the Macedonian government building against the French proposal to start negotiations for the Republic of North Macedonia for EU membership.

Just two days after the ousting of PM Kiril Petkov in a no-confidence vote, Bulgarian legislators on Friday adopted a declaration which would allow their government to potentially lift its veto on starting EU membership talks for neighbouring North Macedonia.

Three Western Balkans leaders expressed displease over the poor outcome of the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.

The French presidency's proposal to resolve the dispute shook the Macedonian government after three small parties threatened to leave if the cabinet approved a draft sent to the Bulgarian parliament to end the dispute between Skopje and Sofia.

As France made last-ditch efforts to unclog North Macedonia's stalled EU accession process, currently blocked by Bulgaria, ahead of this week's EU summit, North Macedonian experts expressed strong doubts about the French proposal.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has said he does not expect next week's EU summit to pave the way for his country to start EU membership talks, blaming Bulgaria, Politico reported today.

The hearing of the resigned Foreign Minister Teodora Gencovska in parliament on the process of North Macedonia's accession to the EU and the decision-making to approve a negotiating framework has escalated into a scandal. For more than three hours, the deputies have been debating whether the procedure should be only in open session or in a closed one.

That agreement would enable the opening of negotiations for Skopje's accession to the European Union.
However, as he said, that will happen "when the time comes".