Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama made a joking comment on the dispute between Sofia and Skopje during a joint press conference after meeting with Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev at the Economic Forum in Northern Macedonia, the Sloboden Pechat newspaper reported.
“Everyone has the right to feel completely disappointed, because suddenly Bulgaria appears now and wants something more. I told Zoran Zaev that I hope they will not want to call you Western Bulgaria, because then you will have to negotiate with the Greeks again.” , Rama said on the occasion of Sofia’s repeated suspension of Skopje’s EU talks.
The topic of Albania’s and northern Macedonia’s EU talks was a major one during the press conference, and while he did not hide his disappointment with the veto, which also affects Tirana, Rama has repeatedly approached the situation with a sense of humor.
According to the Albanian Prime Minister, the postponement of the talks again is a failure of the EU, not of Albania and Northern Macedonia, which, even if they are not part of the community, are part of Europe.
“We are too young to live isolated from each other, too young to look for the future for our children, but we can do it together. We are not the ones who failed, they failed. They have their reasons and I understand that this is their home and we want to enter this house, “said Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
“We are Europeans without the EU, we are not the EU, but we are still Europe. The only problem is that they could still say ‘we love you, we want you to be inside, but there are some things we have to solve first. Your premises, your rooms are not ready yet, “said the Albanian Prime Minister.
He compared the EU to a lover who says “I love you” but is not ready for marriage, saying he and Zaev are good readers of Samuel Beckett and can wait, referring to the play “Waiting for Godot”, but noted that instead of just sitting there, the two countries will be active on their way to the EU, implementing European values.
For his part, Zaev said the veto could be unfair to northern Macedonia, but even more unfair to Albania.
And Portugal raised its hands: The time has not come for N. Macedonia to join the EU –
The Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU has done its utmost to reach a decision on the start of accession talks with Albania and Northern Macedonia. This was stated by the representative of the presidency Anna Zakariash after a meeting of the EU Council for General Affairs in Luxembourg, the BTA correspondent in Brussels reported.
We understand the difficult political situation in which Bulgaria and the Republic of Northern Macedonia (RSM) are today. The time has not yet come, she added, pointing out that a generally acceptable solution must be found.
“We encourage the Slovenian presidency to continue our efforts, not to lose momentum and to use the proposals already made. We hope to hold talks with Skopje and Tirana as soon as possible,” Zakarias said.
Earlier, the Bulgarian representative at the meeting, the acting Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Rumen Alexandrov, confirmed that the opinion of the National Assembly from 2019 regarding the PCM remains in force. He noted that Bulgaria expects Skopje to fulfill its commitments earlier this month – renunciation of territorial, minority and historical claims to Bulgaria, change of inscriptions inciting hatred towards Bulgaria in the RSM, rehabilitation of victims of Yugoslav communism, victims of his Bulgarian self-consciousness.
Bulgaria insists that the implementation of the neighborhood agreement by Skopje be included among the conditions in the future negotiating framework, Alexandrov said. Bulgaria today again supported the negotiating framework with Albania and noted Tirana’s progress on European reforms.
