Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are pushing for North Macedonia to pass the constitutional reform it needs to join the EU club, although some say the process is on the brink of collapse.
On Thursday, Austrian Foreign Minister Schallenberg will travel to Skopje with his Slovak and Czech counterparts on behalf of EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, aiming to accelerate the implementation of a necessary constitutional amendment to advance the process of the North’s accession to the EU. Macedonia.
Bulgaria has blocked the EU path to the EU due to linguistic and cultural conflicts and can only be unblocked if Skopje includes the Bulgarian minority in the constitution, which requires a parliamentary majority, which is not possible at the moment.
“We will publicize constitutional reform and demonstrate our support. Because North Macedonia is very ambitious, but without constitutional change, all ambitions will lead nowhere,” Schallenberg emphasized: APP reported.
After “mandated trips” to the South Caucasus in June 2021 and Montenegro in December 2022, this is Schallenberg’s third mission to the EU, his office announced in advance.
On behalf of the 27 EU member states, the three foreign ministers will meet their Macedonian counterpart Bujar Osmani, President Stevo Pendarovski, Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi and various representatives of the government coalition, the opposition and the civil society.
The group consisting of three countries – Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – was founded in 2015 in the town of Slavkov (Austerlitz) in southern Moravia. The “Slavkov/Austerlitz format” aims to further strengthen cooperation between the three countries.
The three foreign ministers had already used this format in the past to send a signal of solidarity in Central Europe with joint trips, the Foreign Ministry emphasized, for example to Ukraine in February and July 2022 and to Moldova in April 2022.
The rapprochement process is “on the brink of collapse”
To accelerate the EU accession of Western Balkan states like North Macedonia, Schallenberg launched the “Friends of the Western Balkans» – a group of seven EU member states created to accelerate the EU accession process of the Western Balkan states.
“In addition to close historical and cultural ties, Austria primarily maintains active trade with regional states and is an important economic factor in the Balkans,” said Vedran Dzihic, senior researcher at the Austrian Institute of International Affairs (OIIP), at EURACTIV. Tuesday.
He added that this explains Austria’s general interest and makes it one of the states considered “Balkan experts” and “mediators” within the EU.
However, the process of rapprochement with North Macedonia is said to be “on the verge of collapse”, as the EU has “wasted a lot of political capital by blocking the process first by France, then by Bulgaria”.
Therefore, “the path towards constitutional changes” does not “look good at the moment” and it remains “highly questionable” whether the diplomatic initiative of the EU and Austria can help, Dzihic concluded.
North Macedonia officially became an EU candidate in 2005.
(Chiara Swaton | EURACTIV.de)