European Union soon to discuss enlargement procedure

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The President of the European Council says the bloc will be holding intensive discussions in coming weeks on how future enlargement should be managed. Charles Michel, who was in the Albanian capital, Tirana, to meet with the prime minister, said all member countries “are unanimous on one point — that the Western Balkans’ future should be toward Europe.” The hopes of Albania and its neighbor North Macedonia to launch EU membership talks last year were blocked by the French president in October when he asked for a reform of the admission process. Speaking at a joint press conference with North Macedonia’s President Stevo Pendarovski later Friday in the capital Skopje, Michel said Brussels is preparing a new methodology which will be open to discussion in coming weeks.