(Bloomberg) -- The European Union unblocked the membership path for North Macedonia and Albania, restoring its Balkans enlargement strategy after overcoming a French barrier.
EU general-affairs ministers agreed on Tuesday by video conference that the European Commission should draw up a “negotiating framework” for each of the two western Balkan countries. The Brussels-based commission is the 27-nation EU's executive arm.
“This is a major development,” Oliver Varhelyi, the European commissioner in charge of enlargement, told reporters. “We will present very shortly a negotiating framework so that the actual negotiations can start very quickly.”
France upset its EU partners in general and Germany in particular in October by vetoing the bloc's push to start membership negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania during the first half of 2020. President Emmanuel Macron insisted on tougher scrutiny of both nations' respect for the rule of law.
The French snub prompted the resignation of North Macedonia's pro-EU prime minister, Zoran Zaev, bolstering arguments that the prospect of joining the bloc is important for political stability in a region still grappling with the aftermath of the 1990s wars.
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To address the French reservations, the commission in February proposed changes to the way the EU vets aspiring members by giving more weight to “fundamentals,” including the functioning of the judicial system and democratic institutions.
Three other countries in the Balkans have begun EU entry talks: Serbia in 2014, Montenegro in 2012 and Turkey in 2005.
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The entry process already gives EU governments wide scope to determine the pace. Every member country must endorse the opening and closing of each of more than 30 negotiating “chapters” covering everything from public procurement and company law to consumer protection and human rights.
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