Dr. Ioannis Armakolas, Assistant Professor at the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia and Head of the South-East Europe Programme at ELIAMEP, was invited to discuss with Xenofon Zikidis for the First Programme of ERT, the Greek state-owned public radio and television network.
Dr. Armakolas spoke on the developments in North Macedonia after France’s veto and how this is affecting the implementation of the Prespa Agreement. Moreover, he explained the reasons behind France’s veto and the issue of enlargement within the EU.
“The EU has an enlargement policy and this provides for the accession of these countries (the Western Balkans) to the EU. And that is more than a momentary whim. It is a policy linked to important, long-term interests of member-states such as Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania. Therefore, none of these countries that have an interest in the prospect of the Western Balkans joining the EU are going to let France torpedo the enlargement process. Greece will be the first to be negatively affected by the collapse of the enlargement prospect,” underlined Dr. Armakolas.
You can listen to the full interview in Greek here.
