May 19 – European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi announced on Tuesday that negotiating frameworks for Albania and North Macedonia will come in June, while the annual reports are due in the autumn.
The aim of this delay is to make more time for the reforms to be delivered and better predictability in view of COVID-19,Várhelyi wrote on Twitter. European Commission reports were originally scheduled for April, then delayed for June due to the Coronavirus outbreak, before being delayed again.
On March 24, Albania and North Macedonia were given the green light for the opening of accession talks by the General Affairs Council of the EU. The decision which came ate a time of a global crisis, was welcomed by officials of both countries, marking a great step for the Western Balkans towards EU integration. However, Albania still needs to meet 15 conditions set by the EC until the next intergovernmental meeting.
