German Chancellor Angela Merkel was answering on Wednesday at the Bundestag questions from Gunther Krichbaum, who criticized the failure of the German EU Presidency to start accession talks with North Macedonia, Deutsche Welle reports.
He stressed that the public has once again witnessed EU member states abuse their power over candidate countries to promote bilateral issues.
“We failed to achieve progress in every area, for example starting negotiations with North Macedonia, which is a shame. We witnessed once again a member state abuse its power over a candidate country to impose bilateral demands,” Krichbaum said, asking Merkel to comment on chances to overcome the Bulgarian blockade.
She replied that she had recently talked to Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov.
“I talked once again with Bulgarian PM Borissov and hope these issues will be resolved in the near future,” the German Chancellor said.
German Ambassador to North Macedonia Anke Holstein said in an interview with Deutsche Welle on Wednesday that the topic of enlargement is moving into the hands of the Portuguese and Slovenian EU Presidencies.
“Enlargement is in good hands. With Portugal and Slovenia we formed the presidency trio – we aligned our programs and established close cooperation. Our Portuguese friends are very much aware that their top priority once they take over the Presidency is holding the first intergovernmental conference with North Macedonia and Albania, provided the latter meets preconditions,” Holstein said.
She praised the Macedonian government for recent activities and criticized the EU for failing to fulfill its promise to Skopje.
“The EU made promises it has failed to keep. There’s no doubt about it. We made efforts, but failed to deliver on what was promised in March,” the Ambassador noted.
She also elaborated on Wednesday’s conclusions of the COREPER, i.e. paragraph 8, which says that the “Council recalls the Prespa agreement between the Republic of North Macedonia and Greece and the Treaty on Friendship, Good-neighbourliness and Cooperation between the Republic of North Macedonia and Bulgaria and stresses the importance of their continued implementation. These two major steps should put an effective end to any claims based on misinterpretation of history.”
“This part regarding implementation of agreements with Bulgaria and Greece is identical to the one included in the Council’s conclusions on enlargement in 2018. It applies equally to Bulgaria, Greece and North Macedonia. Therefore, it can serve as basis for resuming joint activities. It was important to the Presidency to adopt draft-conclusions in order to show that all member states remain committed to enlargement,” Holstein said.
