TIRANA, June 16 – Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama reacted on Saturday to North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski’s request to the European Union to judge his country separately from Albania on the topic of opening accession negotiations.
This comes after a number of international media but also EU member state representatives confirmed Albania will most probably not open accession negotiations with the EU within 2019, for not having properly met the set EU requirements.
The Netherlands, one of the main countries that has rejected Albania’s claims to opening negotiations repeatedly, however, said that North Macedonia has made better progress and stands more chances.
“The separation of North Macedonia from Albania on their path to the EU, by granting N. Macedonia the green light and hampering the opening of negotiations with Albania is not a good thing, but it’s the only way to move forward,” Pendarovski said.
Soon thereafter, Rama reacted through a tweet on his personal account.
“President SPendarovski implicitly favors ‘decoupling from Albania?’ Strange to hear this, especially when one considers the key contribution of Albania and Albanians in our friendly neighbour’s state democratic development and European path. Doesn’t sound right nor practical frankly,” Rama tweeted.
