EU enlargement blocked

EU enlargement blocked

The EU Council says that there are "a few hours left" for a possible agreement, and the ministers of general affairs of the EU countries put the issue of enlargement under the item "miscellaneous" on the agenda of tomorrow's meeting.

At the same time, it was announced that the issue of enlargement will not be on the agenda of the meeting of EU 27 leaders who are coming to the summit in Brussels on December 10 and 11.

"It is not impossible that the issue of enlargement is raised, but the agenda is already full," they estimate in Brussels.

The German presidency of the Council of the EU says that they are frustrated by the impossibility of progress on the issue of the negotiating framework for North Macedonia, which, at least for now, has blocked the process of adopting conclusions on all countries from the enlargement process.

"We have done everything possible to reach a compromise, but it is impossible to do so at this point. We are dissatisfied with the fact that Bulgaria is blocking accession negotiations due to bilateral historical issues that do not belong to the enlargement context," the senior EU diplomat said.

He states that, due to the blockade of the negotiating framework for North Macedonia, Albania has also been blocked. "The whole thing is blocked, and that is really unfavorable," they conclude in Brussels.

However, they note that the negotiations are continuing, but that there is not much optimism about the positive outcome by the end of the year, according to the claims from Brussels' officials.