SKOPJE/SOFIA -- During a visit to Skopje, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has backed calls by North Macedonia’s leader for the European Union to quickly begin accession talks with the small Western Balkan nation.
Later in the day during a stop in Bulgaria, Scholz urged Sofia to end its efforts to block North Macedonia’s EU aspirations over a series of language and historical disagreements.
"The accession negotiations that were firmly promised two years ago must begin now...I will push for this," Scholz said on June 11 in a joint news conference in Skopje with Dimitar Kovacevski, the prime minister of North Macedonia.
Scholz said that “the Western Balkans are of strategic importance” for Germany and that his country was “serious” in supporting the European integration of the region.
“North Macedonia and Albania deserve to start the membership talks,” added Scholz, who later traveled to Bulgaria following the visit to North Macedonia and previous stops in Serbia and Greece.
Scholz also pressed North Macedonia to move further along the reform process needed to solidify its EU bid.
"The faster you progress, the faster accession negotiations will progress when they start," Scholz said.
Kovacevski said the EU summit planned for later this month should confirm the start of accession talks.
"We expect a step that we have earned. Chancellor Scholz's visit is a strong signal that Berlin recognizes that we meet the criteria," said Kovacevski.
The prime minister added that his country cannot constantly be held “hostage” by the objections of one country -- referring to Bulgaria, which in the past has blocked the EU bid over a series of disputes, including Bulgaria's claim that the language spoken in North Macedonia is a dialect of Bulgarian.
Bulgaria has called on North Macedonia to end purported "discrimination" against its ethnic-Bulgarian minority, to eradicate "hate speech" in the media, and to make changes to the country's history textbooks.
Skopje previously had to settle another long-running historical dispute over the use of the name "Macedonia" with its southern neighbor, Greece. Under that settlement, Skopje agreed to change the name of the country from Macedonia to North Macedonia.
Scholz urged Bulgaria to ease its objections to Skopje’s EU membership, saying the war in Ukraine has brought new urgency to efforts to counter Russia’s influence in the region.
"I see chances for progress," Scholz said in a news conference with BUlgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov in Sofia. "We will stay in close exchange in coming days."
Petkov again insisted that North Macedonia meet three conditions related to historical and cultural disputes between the two countries and said Brussels should guarantee that they are met.
Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has added to calls to bring not only North Macedonia, but also Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, and Bosnia-Herzegovina closer to the EU through full membership or some alternative.
EU leaders stopped short of offering a concrete timetable for membership to the six Western Balkans candidates at a summit in Slovenia in October, reiterating only the bloc's "commitment to the enlargement process."