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We must separate Tirana from Skopje if Bulgaria does not lift its veto on the intergovernmental conference

We must separate Tirana from Skopje if Bulgaria does not lift its veto on the

The EU Enlargement Commissioner insists that the first intergovernmental conference with Albania be held in June, even if Sofia does not waive its veto on Northern Macedonia by next month.

At the conference organized by the Atlantic Council, Oliver Varhelyi said that if Bulgaria does not give up its veto on Skopje, the process should move forward only for Albania.

Oliver Varhelyi:

"We are working hard to find a solution for both Albania and Northern Macedonia. We are convinced that both of these countries have already met the conditions we have set for them to hold the first intergovernmental conference. You should keep in mind that there is still some time left until the end of June to achieve this goal. "The Portuguese presidency of the EU also intends to return the issue to the decision-making table before the end of its six-month term."

The idea of ​​the commissioner for the Tirana-Skopje partition was left aside for the moment by the foreign ministers in the two-day meeting at the beginning of the week, but the European commissioner expressed the conviction that at the end of June, the European foreign ministers will be convinced of his idea:

"If we want to be honest, Albania has met the same conditions as Northern Macedonia. I want to remind you of the time when two years ago the option was put on the table to separate these two countries and move forward only with Northern Macedonia and leaving Albania behind. So the same argument was used at the time in favor of Skopje to separate these two states. "The issue I have personally raised is that we need to have a result by June."

Varhelyi expressed concern that Bulgaria might not give up its veto on negotiations with Northern Macedonia:

"If we go to the end of June without a solution to the bilateral issues between Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia that are blocking the opening of negotiations, I am convinced that we will face the situation that inevitably we must divide Skopje and Tirana. This option is not far in time to be paved. "I made this very clear to the foreign ministers as well."

Meanwhile, on May 18, the leaders of the Western Balkans are invited to a working dinner in Brussels. They have been invited by the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.

* Tiranapost.al.