Following his visit to Bulgaria, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg travelled to Skopje on 10th May, where he met for talks with his Macedonian counterpart, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, as well as President Stevo Pendarovski and Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski. Aside from the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and economic relations between Northern Macedonia and Austria, the focus was on the EU expansion into the Western Balkans.
Austria has always supported the accession of Northern Macedonia to the EU, but the process has been delayed for decades due to blockades from the neighbouring states. It was not until 2018 that a dispute with Greece over the name of the state of Macedonia was settled, the arbitration of which led to the approval of the heads of state and government of the Union for the start of EU accession talks with Northern Macedonia in 2020. Since then, the EU member Bulgaria, among others, has raised objections to the start of accession talks with Northern Macedonia.
Never in history has it been so important to strengthen the credibility of the EU accession perspective for the countries in the Western Balkans. It is a special priority is to finally start the long-overdue accession negotiations with Northern Macedonia and Albania, without further delay,
said Foreign Minister Schallenberg firmly.
Since the Prespa Dialog Forum, when Northern Macedonia changed its name in order to put relations with its southern neighbour on new footing, the strategic environment has changed fundamentally, mainly due to the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, which also has a massive impact on the Western Balkan states. For instance, there is not only a risk of destabilising the Western Balkan region, but also enormous economic repercussions due to price increases for energy and food. However, Northern Macedonia is opposed to this and strongly condemns the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Moreover, the Western Balkan state only recently aligned itself with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.
We cannot make the mistake of believing that Russia has its eyes only on Ukraine. Russia can also harm other regions without firing a single shot,
emphasised Foreign Minister Schallenberg.
At the same time, the excellent relationship between Austria and Northern Macedonia is not limited to the EU expansion; there is also a broad common political, economic, cultural and human basis. Austria, the largest foreign investor in Northern Macedonia, has a very satisfactory trade exchange with Northern Macedonia and can look back on good joint cooperation in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
