Strasbourg, 21 October 2025 (MIA) – The Macedonian government is slowly but surely implementing agendas that deal with minorities, with security questions, corridors and so on. There is certain progress, but we’re still missing an actual breakthrough on the EU accession path, said Austrian MEP Thomas Waitz, who also serves as the European Parliament’s rapporteur for the country.

“North Macedonia is still blocked by Bulgaria. Unfortunately, there's a lot of identity questions that are blocking [country’s] progress,” Waitz said in a statement for the European Newsroom (enr), comprised of several news agencies, including MIA.

Waitz expressed hopes that after the local elections, needed changes to the Constitution will be made to include the Bulgarian community into the Constitution as a minority.

“This would set the way free for actual start of negotiations. They're an accession country now, but we haven't actually started negotiations and we need to start them soon to keep the country on track,” he noted.

Regarding the other countries in the Western Balkans that are EU candidate countries, Waitz said Montenegro could join the bloc by 2028 to become the 28th member because it has been making accelerated efforts to deliver the final steps on legislation. On Albania, he said the country “is very fast in taking reforms, also going very actively against the corruption in favour of the rule of law in the country, the so-called famous SPAC police department.”

Bosnia and Herzegovina, the MEP said, is in a very difficult situation because of “the lack of a modern civic state.”

When it comes to Serbia and Kosovo, Waitz added, both countries have to finally make peace with each other and recognise each other, otherwise, for both countries their path into European Union is blocked.

“Unfortunately, the path for Serbia is not just blocked because of the old story with Kosovo, but because of the current backtracking when it comes to rule of law and democratic standards. This policy that is run by the [Serbian] government is not enhancing democratic standards but rather the opposite. It's not enhancing freedom of media, rather the opposite. It's decreasing the independence of justice,” he said. 

According to him, Serbia is “a captured state” where the institutions are mainly captured by President Aleksandar Vucic’s party. 

“If we want the region to join the EU and if we want to pacify the region, we have to talk to Serbians. That does not always include the Serbian government, because to me, I doubt that the government of Alexander Vucic really wants to join the European Union.”

“He's doing something I would not recommend for any politician. He's sitting not just between two chairs, but at least between three. I don't know whether he's clear or whether he prefers an affiliation to China, an affiliation to Russia, or an affiliation to the European Union, or maybe he just deserves an affiliation to ‘Serbian world’ that he would like to build, also including some parts of neighbouring countries,” Waitz concluded in a statement to enr. 

Photo: screenshot