On Tuesday, North Macedonia and Albania opened negotiations with the European Union (EU) after almost two decades of waiting, it reports Radio Free Europe.
On July 19, the EU held intergovernmental conferences with North Macedonia and Albania in Brussels, which formally opened negotiations.
North Macedonia received candidate status in 2005, after which it waited until today, first because of a dispute with Greece over the name of the state, and then with Bulgaria over identity issues.
Albania also had to wait for the opening of negotiations because it was in the package for the start of negotiations with North Macedonia.
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At the end of the first intergovernmental conference between the EU and North Macedonia, Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski assessed that a new chapter in Macedonian history was opening.
"This is a historic day for us, long-awaited and certainly deserved. For this day, we made difficult decisions that required courage and wisdom. We made the final decision and preserved the Macedonian identity, language and culture. We decided to be decisive, brave, wise and determined not to think of us, but of the next generations," said Kovačevski.
Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavski said that the countries of the Western Balkans are expected to commit to European values as future EU members.
European Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelji expressed the expectation that negotiations with official Skopje will proceed quickly.
"Seventeen years after candidate status and 13 years after our recommendation to open negotiations, the country has shown resilience and determination on the European path and North Macedonia has shown that it is our reliable partner," said Varhelji.
He also wrote: "We are opening accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia. In the changing geopolitical environment, our priority remains the Western Balkans. We are more committed than ever to bring the entire region into the EU. Today we are taking a big step towards this commitment."
Before the start of the intergovernmental conferences, the president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, said that this was a historic moment.
"You and your people have worked so hard to get to this moment and you have shown how committed you are to European values and have kept faith in the EU accession process. You have undertaken all these changes not because they were necessary for your path to the EU, but because they are good for your countries," said the President of the European Commission.
The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, the country that presides over the European Union, has confirmed that his country has always advocated for the integration of the entire Western Balkans region into the EU.
"The Czech presidency knows very well how much European integration means for the security and economy of our democracies," said the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala.
Before the intergovernmental conference in Brussels, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovačevski, said that the Macedonian language will not be represented with an asterisk (*) or any additions, and that one day the Macedonian language will be among the official languages of the EU.
Before the intergovernmental conference in Brussels, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama thanked the Albanian people who, according to him, never gave up on their dream of going the European way.
"We know that this is not the beginning of the end. This is the end of the beginning. We have to continue to build a strong democratic and European Albania and a strong democratic western open Balkans," Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said.
Seventeen years of waiting
Macedonia has been a candidate country for full EU membership since 2005. In 2009, the European Commission recommended the opening of accession negotiations on the condition that the country resolves its name dispute with neighboring Greece.
After the settlement of the dispute in 2018, the beginning of the process was first vetoed by France, which requested a change in the methodology in the accession negotiations. In the end, neighboring Bulgaria blocked the negotiations, conditioning the opening of the process on the resolution of the dispute concerning language and history.
Albania, which was in the same package with North Macedonia for the opening of EU membership negotiations, had to wait for the resolution of the dispute between Skopje and Sofia, to enable it to start negotiations.
Albania has been a candidate country for full membership in the EU since 2014, and since 2018 has had a recommendation from the EC to start the process of accession negotiations.
Good news for the region
Congratulations on the opening of negotiations were sent by officials from the neighborhood and other countries.
Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović wrote on Twitter that the opening of membership negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia is "great news for the region and for Europe."
"One step closer to the European family for the Western Balkans. Congratulations to our neighbors and friends, the EU is our safe home where all our differences and peculiarities will be respected and protected," Đukanović announced on Twitter.
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