PARIS – The President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski met today with the French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the second Paris Peace Forum (11-13 Nov) to discuss the country’s prospects of joining the EU bloc.
“European integration remains our strategic goal, we don’t object to altered methodology for EU accession talks which makes for a more thorough accession process”, tweeted Pendarovski after meeting with Macron.
In North Macedonia, Pendarovski’s meeting with Macron had been hastily anticipated. “I am glad that one of our top representatives will finally meet the head of friendly France and will talk about all the arguments,” said the Prime Minister of North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev last week.
In October, Macron opposed the decision of the European Council to block the start of EU accession talks for Albania and North Macedonia. Since the decision requires unanimity, the negotiations were not opened.
The talks on EU accession for North Macedonia and Albania are expected to be revisited in the first few months of 2020.