The final decisions of the EU Ministers on the Union’s enlargement to include the Western Balkan countries have been blocked and are unlikely to be made, as expected, at today’s EU Council meeting, reports the Tanjug agency citing sources in Brussels.
The EU Council states that there are still a few hours left for a possible agreement, and the EU General Affairs Ministers have put the issue of enlargement under the heading “other meeting agenda items”.
At the same time, it was announced that the issue of enlargement will not be on the agenda at the meeting of the 27 EU leaders, who will be present at the Brussels summit on 10 and 11 December.
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“It is not impossible that the issue of enlargement will not be discussed by the meeting agenda is already full”, the sources from Brussels say.
The German Presidency of the EU Council says it is frustrated by the impossibility to make progress on the issue of the negotiating framework for North Macedonia, which, at least for now, has blocked the decision-making process relating to all countries in the enlargement process.
“We have done everything possible to reach a compromise, but so far it has been impossible. We are dissatisfied that Bulgaria is blocking accession negotiations due to bilateral historical issues (with North Macedonia) that do not belong in the context of enlargement”, revealed a high-level EU diplomat.
It is said that because the negotiation framework regarding North Macedonia’s accession has been blocked, the same is happening with Albania too.
“Everything is blocked, and this is really unfortunate”, the Brussels sources say, noting that negotiations continue, but there is not much optimism that the positive outcome will be reached by the year-end.
(Blic, 07.12.2020)
https://www.blic.rs/vesti/svet/blokira-se-prosirenje-u-eu/jph4q91
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