Southeastern Europe

Greece cannot allow a "stability vacuum" in the Western Balkans that could "easily be filled by other non-European forces supporting extremism and revisionism or aspiring to revive empires that belong to the past" and continues to support their accession to the European Union, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said on Thursday, following a meeting in Athens with his North Macedonia counterpa

Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias will meet with his North Macedonia counterpart Bujar Osmani in Athens on Thursday.

Talks are expected to focus on the western Balkan country's EU accession prospects, while strategies for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic will also be discussed, a statement from the Greek ministry said.

The principle, according to which the reforms pave the way to EU membership is no longer in force for the countries of the Western Balkans, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in an extensive analysis cited by Deutsche Welle and BTA.

He sharply criticized the delay in supplying the countries of the Western Balkans with the vaccine.
According to the Albanian media, quoted by Dnevni Avaz, Rama criticized the EU because the Union left the countries of the Western Balkans waiting for vaccine stocks until the member states first provide sufficient doses for their population.

The annual conclusions of the EU Council on Enlargement, Stabilization and Association of the Western Balkans are on the agenda of the ambassadors of the member states who will discuss this issue in the afternoon.
The conclusions were previously blocked by Bulgaria, which primarily vetoed the negotiating framework for North Macedonia.

North Macedonia's foreign minister called on the EU Tuesday (15 December) to end the "blackmail" of his country through the imposition by Bulgaria of fresh obstacles to its membership of the bloc.

Ljubljana – President Borut Pahor reiterated his stance that EU prospects for the Western Balkans are the main geopolitical issue bearing on European stability, as he addressed the To Be Secure (2BS) forum on Friday. His wish is for the entire region to join the EU.

Ljubljana – President Borut Pahor has informed leaders of the Brdo-Brijuni Process that the summit marking the 10th anniversary of this initiative for the Western Balkans, which was to be held next Monday in Slovenia, has been cancelled due to the current epidemiological situation.

The European Union on Tuesday warned Bulgaria that it risks undermining security in the Balkans and elsewhere in Europe if it continues to block EU membership talks for North Macedonia.

EU leaders gave Albania and North Macedonia the green light in March to begin accession negotiations but no date was set for the talks to start.

Explaining this thought, he said the Western Balkans could become a new multiethnic entity made up of "six states", closely linked to the EU, headed by Belgrade.