site.btaEU Commissioner Varhelyi Hopes Delay of Skopje's Accession Talks to Be Resolved in Days

The EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, expressed hope that enlargement negotiations with Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia will commence "as soon as today" and that "we should no longer wait due to domestic political reasons in Bulgaria". Varhelyi spoke at a conference in Brussels on Friday.

"I strongly hope that we are talking days rather than months or years," Varhelyi added. According to him, Bulgaria’s domestic politics are taking the lead, which is detrimental to the EU.

When asked about the unofficial proposition from Paris to resolve the disagreement between Sofia and Skopje, Varhelyi denied being familiar with the negotiating framework and stated that in regard to Sofia’s position he saw a complete standstill. "I am not particularly pleased with this: every second Tuesday of the month I would travel to Bulgaria, and that did not show any results. For the time being, I do not think we can discuss any negotiating framework," the Commissioner concluded.