LUXEMBOURG: The European Union is divided over whether to allow membership talks with Albania and Macedonia as anti-immigration sentiment rises in the bloc, but NATO is ready to welcome Skopje into the Western military alliance.With broad support for membership talks from other EU governments and the European Commission, Albania and Macedonia hope Europe ministers will agree the go-ahead at a meeting on Tuesday in Luxembourg, which would clear the way for approval by EU government leaders at a summit on Thursday.However, France and the Netherlands, with support from Denmark, are resisting and may seek further conditions such as more reforms to tackle corruption and organised crime in Albania and Macedonia, EU officials said.After Macedonia and Greece resolved a decades-old dispute about the former’s name which had blocked the European Union membership process, opening talks would mark the clearest step yet in the bloc’s attempts to renew its expansion to the six western Balkan countries after years of neglect for the region. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the US -led alliance was likely to approve membership talks with Macedonia at a summit in July. Albania is already part of NATO and membership has proven to be a platform for joining the EU.
from The News International - World
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