site.btaBulgarian EU Presidency to Propose Launch of Accession Negotiations with Macedonia, Albania

Luxembourg, June 25 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - The Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council will propose on Tuesday that Macedonia and Albania be invited to EU accession negotiations, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva told journalists here Monday.

Four out of five EU Member States support the idea to extend this invitation now, she went on to say. "We have more work to do to convince part of the Member States which are skeptical," she noted. Zaharieva underscored the efforts made by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov to this end, recalling his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron at the informal working meeting on migration and asylum issues in Brussels on Sunday, with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Zaharieva specified that even if on Tuesday the EU Council supports the launch of the accession negotiations, this does not automatically mean these would start immediately. There is a lot of preparation work that the experts at the European Commission have to do, such as the elaboration of a negotiating framework, she noted. In her words, the concerns voiced by some Member States will be taken into view. If a positive decision is not made on Tuesday, the matter can be reviewed by the European Council at the end of this week, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister added.