US representative for the Western Balkans called the EU decision not to start talks on accession with Northern Macedonia and Albania a historical mistake, which sends a bad signal to the region, Washington Post reported.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Palmer said the US will do everything possible to convince the EU to reverse the decision before the scheduled meeting of leaders in May in Croatia.
French President Emmanuel Macron is opposed to EU membership of new countries before reforming enlargement procedures, while the Netherlands is against Albania’s candidacy.
The US has stepped up efforts to help resume deadlock negotiations to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo.
According to the Serbian President Aleksandr Vučić, normalization negotiations may resume in two to three months. They were blocked for almost a year after the decision of Kosovo to introduce a 100% trade tax on goods from Serbia.
