EU starts membership talks with Albania and North Macedonia

From right, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski and Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Petr Fiala shake hands in Brussels. The European Union on Tuesday is starting the long enlargement process that aims to lead to the membership of Albania and North Macedonia in the bloc (Virginia Mayo/AP/PA)

The European Union started membership negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia on Tuesday, a step in the Balkan nations’ paths toward EU membership that gained momentum amid the war in Ukraine.

Officially, the process kicked off with the presentation of the negotiating frameworks, which allow the bloc’s head office to screen how prepared each country is to take on all the EU’s laws, rules and regulations.