North Macedonia

NATO's secretary-general commended North Macedonia on Monday for making the reforms necessary to join the transatlantic military alliance next year.

"We are ready to welcome you," Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

On the one hand, the Commission and Germany support the opening of the accession talks, while on the other France is opposed. At the same time, Brussels, Berlin, and Paris all have their own strategies for the EU perspective of the Western Balkans, but with different end goals or lack thereof.

Bulgarians believe mostly what is being said on television and at least the print media, unlike other European peoples, who are skeptical mostly to social networks. This shows a year-by-year study of the European Union of Electronic Media, which collected data from 33 countries in Europe, reports Dnevnik. 

Greece and North Macedonia on Friday exchanged notes verbales that upgrade the role of their respective liaison offices in Athens and Skopje to that of embassies.

The Greek Foreign Embassy confirmed the initiative with an announcement on Friday.

"This is a great day for diplomacy, and even greater for our citizens," North Macedonia's Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

He said the ratification of the pre-accession protocol is progressing well, quoted by NOVA TV. 

The European Commission has today recommended for the second time that the EU should start negotiations on the accession of northern Macedonia and Albania. 
     EU Neighborhood Commissioner Johannes Hahn noted that the negotiation process has so far been protracted and that it will not change.

The newly adopted enlargement report of the European Commission has recommended opening accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia - but has not set a date for them to start, which will be left for the European Council to decide in June.

North Macedonia should start membership negotiations to join the European Union, the European Commission formally recommended on Wednesday.

The recommendation followed a meeting of the Commission in Brussels, said Johannes Hahn, the EU commissioner in change of enlargement on Twitter. EU governments must agree to allow talks to start.

Northern Macedonia expects to receive a green light from the European Commission on the date of launching negotiations with the EU, reported NOVA TV. 

"Greater Albania" is a nationalistic, expansionist project that would see internationally recognized borders of Albania expand to include parts of neighboring countries - i.e., Serbia, Greece, North Macedonia, and Montenegro.