The European Union started membership negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia on Tuesday, a long-delayed step in the Balkan nations' paths toward EU membership that gained momentum amid the war in Ukraine.
Officially, the process kicked off with the presentation of the negotiating frameworks, which allow the bloc's head office to screen how prepared each country is to take on all the EU's laws, rules and regulations.
"This is not the beginning of the end, it is just the end of the beginning," Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said. "We need this to continue to build a strong, democratic, European Albania and a strong, democratic, Western and open Balkans." "Today, Albania and North Macedonia open accession negotiations with the EU. This historic moment is your success. The result of your hard work," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Rama and Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski of North Macedonia, .
It was only last week that the North Macedonian parliament approved an agreement overcoming Bulgaria's objections and cleared the way for the negotiations to start, Bulgaria had held up any progress on the accession talks, accusing North Macedonia's government of disrespecting shared cultural, linguistic and historic ties.
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