Ursula von der Leyen (BETAPHOTO/STA/Mathieu Cugnot/MO)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called in Sofia on April 7 on Bulgaria to help realize the European Council's decisions on starting accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania.
"Way back in 2020 the European Council decided to launch negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania," Von der Leyen said at a joint news conference after meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.
The Macedonian media reported that Von der Leyen stressed that it was important that the EU's member states "meet their promises to their neighbors in these difficult times." She also said "nothing will be the same as before the war in Ukraine," and that the promises to the EU's partners in 2020 needed to be met and that Bulgaria was being counted on to skillfully lead this process.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Petkov and North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski made separate statements in which they said that considerable progress had been met in negotiations on the two countries' dispute, due to which Sofia is blocking the start of negotiations between the EU and Skopje on membership in the EU.
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