Albania will be separated from North Macedonia on the way to join the EU, with the first cluster of negotiations to be officially opened on October 15. This was the unanimous decision of the permanent representatives in the EU, taken at a meeting yesterday (September 25), an EU spokesperson told the website Euractiv.
The two countries from the Western Balkans started negotiations together in the summer of 2022. Due to the dispute between Skopje and Sofia, the actual start of the accession negotiations was delayed, which directly affected Albania's progress, Yuraktiv notes.
In mid-October, Albania is expected to take the next step within the framework of an intergovernmental conference, at which the first cluster will be opened, which includes several chapters - “Public procurement“, “Statistics“, “Judicial system and basic rights“, “Justice, freedom and security“ and “Financial Control”, the site reports.
This is good news for Albania, but it is a step backwards for North Macedonia, which again fails to take a decisive step towards joining the EU, Yuraktiv points out.