Today in the European Parliament in Brussels, a debate of the Foreign Affairs Committee on progress reports for the Western Balkans countries was held. Foreign ministers from the region, including the Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Poposki, attended the debate.
President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, Elmar Brok, said that the fact that the European Commission announced that it won’t be expanding in the next five years is a “technical issue” because the actual negotiations take time. He also added that “the enlargement shouldn’t stop for the European Parliament, but that it must be accelerated.”
Macedonian Minister agreed with Brok that the enlargement should be accelerated although “it isn’t a popular thing these days.” He expressed hope that the European Parliament will put Macedonia on the agenda and that it “will restore the credibility of the process,” even though EP has no power to alter the decision of the European Council, which doesn’t allow opening of negotiations with Macedonia. According to Poposki, Greece is the only culprit in this situation.
