Skopje, 29 April 2025 (MIA) - If Ukraine waited for as long as North Macedonia to start the negotiations, it would start the accession negotiations in 2045. North Macedonia is a sad story in the Balkans, along with Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, says European Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos in an interview with Radio Free Europe (RFE).

"I am coming from Slovenia, which was part of this territory from the broader sense before. The region was, in some aspects, better 20 years before than it is today. There are two or three sad stories. One of them is Kosovo, not being able to move on. Another sad story is North Macedonia. If we wait with Ukraine for as long as North Macedonia to start the negotiations, Ukraine would start the negotiations in 2045. And of course, there is Bosnia and Herzegovina," says Commissioner Kos.

On EU enlargement, Kos says that when running for commissioner, she was saying that enlargement was different compared to five years before.

"Today, I am saying that enlargement is different than it was this January, because so much has changed, including the new U.S. government. So the geopolitics has changed in the sense of being a priority before enlargement, but it was not that much connected to the part of security and peace. Somehow, with enlargement today, we go back to the roots of why the EU was founded. It has been about providing peace, freedom, prosperity, and today we could add security. This is what we actually do in the whole process," says Kos.

She says it is very important there is no failure in the enlargement process, since "it is EU's most successful foreign policy".

"It would be failure if don't get any newcomers into the EU during the present European Commission and I am sure we can do this. We could do this with Montenegro, all the chapters are open, we are closing them, so we could finish by 2026, from a technical point of view. We could finish with Albania until the end of 2027, from a technical point of view. Why the technical point of view? Because this is the negotiation procedure, they have to do the reforms, but then it's up to the member-states who decide if they become a member or not," says Kos in the RFE interview.

MIA file photo