Dr. Bujar Osmani:

I will start with the second question. Based on what is in the papers and the document the EU has approved, this should be the last one. However, EU enlargement is a unanimity-based process. We calculated that between opening and closing all 35 chapters, there will be more than 130 unanimity votes in the Council of the European Union. So 27 member states could, 130 times, block the process for whatever reason they want, whether the rivers are clear or the air is clean, and use it as a pretext. If we go through what is written on the papers, in the negotiating framework, then this is the requirement that North Macedonia should fulfil to open the first cluster of fundamentals.

That mainly includes Chapters 23 and 24, which deal with the rule of law and fundamental rights and are overarching throughout the negotiating process.

On the Deputy's second question, there is no direct link between North Macedonia's path and the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue. What I was talking about is how closing this file or dispute between Kosovo and Serbia, which should end with mutual recognition, would close the space or diminish the leverage of external forces to influence the region and possibly destabilise it. It will boost the region in terms of overall progress and introduce speed into the Europeanisation of the region. At the moment, North Macedonia's file is dependent on Bulgaria's stance and our internal dynamics to meet the criteria.