MEPs to assess EU accession aspirations of Albania and North Macedonia 

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A delegation of MEPs will go to Tirana and Skopje to take stock of EU-related reforms in progress and evaluate the countries’ readiness for potential accession talks.

Members of the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) will evaluate the latest progress made in Albania and North Macedonia on EU reforms, with less than four months left to assess their readiness to open EU accession negotiations.

A seven-MEP strong AFET delegation, led by Mr Tunne Kelam (EPP, EE), will meet the political leadership, opposition and civil society representatives in both countries from 27 February to 1 March.

The upcoming visit will address issues highlighted in the EP resolutions on the Western Balkans adopted in November 2018, along with the current developments in Albania and the implementation of the Prespa Agreement in North Macedonia. Members will also visit an EU-funded project to witness how pre-accession funding works in practice.

Ahead of the visit, Mr. Kelam said: “2019 is an essential year that will shape the long-term future of Albania and North Macedonia. We welcome the progress made so far and strongly urge all political forces to work together in order to implement the needed reforms with no delay. There’s no time to waste ahead of the June Council meeting in Brussels, where decisions will be taken on the countries’ readiness to open the accession negotiations.”

Commenting on the recent resignation from Parliament of opposition MPs and protests in Albania, he added: “We strongly condemn all political rhetoric inciting violence and urge the opposition to reengage in the democratic parliamentary process. The government and the opposition must urgently de-escalate the situation through constructive engagement.”

Both Albania and North Macedonia are hoping to receive a green light from the EU on opening accession negotiations in June 2019.

The EP’s upcoming delegation will be composed of seven MEPs:


Tunne KELAM (Chair)

EPP

EE

Cristian PREDA

EPP

RO

Knut FLECKENSTEIN

S&D

DE

Juan Fernando LOPEZ AGUILAR

S&D

ES

Bas BELDER

ECR

NL

Ilhan KYUCHYUK

ALDE

BG

Tamás MESZERICS

The Greens/EFA

HU

Press conferences

The delegation will organise two press conferences – one in Tirana on 28 February and another one in Skopje on 1 March. Details will be made available in due time. For more information, please contact the press teams in the EU delegations:

Albania: Dasara Dizdari-Zeneli, Dasara.ZENELI@eeas.europa.eu.

North Macedonia: Eleonora Poposka (Eleonora.POPOSKA@eeas.europa.eu).