On Sunday 1 December in Skopje, North Macedonia, the LDP and the ALDE Party organised an international conference entitled "EU Accession Process – What Next?”.

Over the course of the day and through two panel discussions, participants presented their views on the current state of the EU in terms of the enlargement process and the current prospects for EU enlargement of North Macedonia.

ALDE Party Vice President Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP, who is also the European Parliament’s Rapporteur for North Macedonia, participated in the discussion alongside other international guests including Roman Jakic, the Chairman of LIBSEEN as well as Independent and LDP members of Parliament.

The ALDE Party’s resolution “on the opening of accession talks” as adopted at the 2019 Congress in Athens, Greece, was also a topic of discussion. In this resolution, the ALDE Party urges “the European Council at the first next meeting to set dates for start of EU accession talks with Albania and with North Macedonia” and for the EU to take concrete steps to ensure that trust and confidence in Europe’s commitment is restored with our partner countries in the Western Balkans.

Speaking after the event, Mr Kyuchyuk said it was a historic mistake that the EU did not give the green light to start North Macedonia's negotiations at its October European Summit, noting that the country has done a lot and if the EU had given a date for the start of negotiations it would not have been an obstacle for the Union, nor would it have meant the immediate opening of the first chapter. He expressed his optimism that there could be positive signals for North Macedonia at the upcoming Summit in Zagreb.

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