TIRANA, January 14 /ATA/ “The next six months will be decisive to our relationship with the Balkans.” The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the statement during a debate in the European Parliament focused on presentation of the priorities of the rotating EU Presidency held by Croatia.
“Croatia knows better than many other countries the power of the European future. It is a matter of a clear European future and Croatia knows better than everyone how far this prospect can lead countries to transform systems and the economy,” she argued.
“It is especially important today that we maintain this momentum ahead of the Zagreb Summit on the Western Balkans. If we really want the Zagreb Balkans Summit to be successful, then we have to do our job now. That is why we shall be presenting our EU enlargement methodology within a few weeks so that we can discuss it, but most importantly we shall provide our friends in the Western Balkans with a perspective on how to start accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. Both countries have done the homework we asked them to do, so now it is the time for the European side to fulfill its promise,”said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Earlier in the day, while presenting the priorities of Croatia’s EU presidency, the Croatian Prime Minister Plenkovic told MEPs that Croatia does not hide its ambition to secure support from EU member states for the start of accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia./u.sh/j.p/p.s./
