Albania and North Macedonia seem to have a very difficult path to membership in the European Union. Discussions at a low level of have created two groups between EU member states, Euronews Albania reports.
On the one hand there are 14 countries: Italy, Austria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Ireland that are in support of Albania and North Macedonia. These EU member states have come together and demanded that the path to integration be made easier for the countries of the Western Balkans.
But France, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands have the opposite view, demanding a framework with strong negotiating rules. France has even set red lines and has refused to back down from its positions making integration hard and delaying the opening of negotiations in time.