The EU member states will discuss draft negotiating framework for North Macedonia on Sept. 8 in Brussels, which will be presented by the German Presidency of the EU Council, new Deputy PM for European Affairs Nikola Dimitrov told reporters Tuesday.
“Berlin’s plan, within the possibilities at such times, is for this process to be completed in the last month of this year. The German EU Presidency expects the first intergovernmental conference to take place in December 2020,” Dimitrov said.
Dimitrov as the new Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs and head of the Secretariat for European Affairs (SEA) today held a press conference with his predecessor and successor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Bujar Osmani.
Osmani has been the main political negotiator with the EU so far, but given the handover of duties, Dimitrov will now have that role, and it is certain that there will be the new interim negotiator because the current negotiator, Bojan Maricic, has become Minister of Justice. However, Dimitrov did not want to comment on the teams that will lead the negotiations with the Eropean Union for the time being.
