This weekend North Macedonia’s parliament gave the government the green light to resolve a dispute with Bulgaria that paves the way for EU membership talks to begin. The deal would also unblock the start of negotiations for Albania, another EU hopeful. While this may lift Bulgaria’s veto over North Macedonia’s membership bid, there are still a number of hurdles before North Macedonia can join the EU. These include commitments from Skopje to make changes to its constitution, which could prove a step too far for the government as this would require a two-thirds majority in parliament. Professor Yorgos Christides joins me to look at what comes next, and break down why this is significant not only for North Macedonia, but for the Western Balkans and the EU.

Yorgos Christidis is a research fellow at ELIAMEP and an Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the Department of Balkan, Slavonic and Oriental Studies at the University of Macedonia in Greece, and a visiting Professor at the University of Sofia. 

You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:

North Macedonia takes step toward starting EU accession talks

EU to open accession talks with Albania, North Macedonia

US Secretary of Defense says will contact Turkish counterpart over Aegean tensions

Akar slams Greece for seeking to block sale of F-16 jets to Turkey