A top EU official who briefed Brussels correspondents Monday morning said Bulgaria’s veto due to a bilateral dispute with North Macedonia is frustrating the entire European Union, MIA’s Brussels correspondent reports.
Despite all diplomatic efforts, Bulgaria is not backing down on the unprincipled veto for North Macedonia over bilateral issues, which is why the entire discussion on EU enlargement to the Western Balkans has been removed from the agenda of the EU European affairs ministers on Tuesday. This includes Albania, which hoped for some progress in terms of its negotiating framework with the EU.
“Germany’s EU presidency is frustrated that it was not possible to make progress on the negotiating framework with North Macedonia. We did everything we could, including facilitating a compromise between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. We’re not pleased that Bulgaria is blocking the accession negotiations due to bilateral issues with North Macedonia. Because of this member states believe that progress can neither be made with Albania,” a top EU official said ahead of the EU ministerial meeting on Tuesday.
According to the diplomats, “there is no light at the end of the tunnel” regarding unblocking of the negotiations with North Macedonia because Bulgaria is not backing down on the bilateral dispute, which created a complete blockade in the Council regarding the enlargement.
EU diplomats don’t expect progress by the end of Germany’s EU presidency, whereas EU leaders on Thursday and Friday in Brussels “won’t have time to deal with the enlargement” because the agenda is “already full.”
By the end of this year, the EU should find a solution to the trade partnership between the EU and the UK – negotiations that are currently blocked. There is also a stalemate in the negotiations on the EU budget and the recovery fund due to Hungary, which doesn’t accept a rule of law oversight mechanism.
The enlargement could have been the “success story” of the German presidency in this crisis year for the EU, but because of Bulgaria, Berlin will probably not be able to present this as an achievement, diplomats in Brussels say.
