North Macedonia – EU rapprochement

North Macedonia is likely to gain the European Union support to start membership talks later this year, according to the EU diplomats.

“The EU … must keep alive the “beautiful dreams” and maintain the prospect of a European future for WB reformers. Starting accession negotiations with North Macedonia now means providing credibility to this prospect, at very low cost.” @kristofbender https://t.co/3X4dlDgzxf

— Nikola Dimitrov (@Dimitrov_Nikola) June 15, 2019

“North Macedonia has a good chance, given the historic resolution of its name issue,” the diplomatic source confirmed.

Macedonia on track for EU accession talks but not Albania: diplomats https://t.co/YUnEXTQpiH pic.twitter.com/YnzKwcicWe

— Reuters (@Reuters) June 14, 2019

The name change from Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to Republic of North Macedonia has offered Skopje momentum and is highly likely to persuade Paris, Berlin and The Hague to back EU talks.

Image above: Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, Johannes Hahn, Member of the EC in charge of European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, receive Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia.