Macedonia Is Missing From the EU's Enlargement Conclusions, While Plenković Uses It to Justify His Veto on Montenegro

European Union leaders in Brussels finally held the strategic debate on enlargement that had been awaited for months. The conclusions speak of "the continued importance of enlargement as a geostrategic investment in peace, security, stability and prosperity." Of the candidates from the region, only Montenegro is mentioned by name. Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are not listed.

Even Montenegro didn't get what it asked for. Podgorica wants to close negotiations by the end of the year, sign the accession treaty in the first half of 2027 and become a member in 2028. Instead of clear backing for that timeline, the Council "welcomes the ongoing work" on the treaty and "takes note" of the Irish presidency's intention to work on provisionally closing the remaining chapters. Analyst Adnan Ćerimagić of the European Stability Initiative summed up the outcome briefly: "much ado about nothing."

A Croatian lesson at someone else's expense

The most direct mention of Macedonia came from Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, and not to support it. He used Skopje's years-long blockade as an argument that Zagreb is being constructive towards Montenegro, even though it is setting eight conditions. "There are two states which, from 2005 to 2026, took away 21 years of institutional rapprochement" from Macedonia, Plenković said, adding that Croatia "did not take that approach."

So Macedonia's only role at the summit was that of a cautionary tale in someone else's sentence. When a neighbour that is blocking justifies itself by pointing out that someone else blocked for longer, what is the principle that every country advances on its own merits worth?

High Representative Kaja Kallas said it is "really important that we do not bilateralise the enlargement process." A nice sentence, spoken while Croatia holds up Montenegro, Hungary and Bulgaria hold up Ukraine, and Bulgaria holds up Macedonia.

Austria offers the market before membership

The only fresh idea came from Vienna. Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger proposes that candidates gradually gain access to parts of the European single market as soon as they meet reform conditions, instead of waiting for the end of the whole process. "If we leave the candidate countries waiting too long, we shouldn't be surprised if others fill that space with their own rules, money and influence," she warned.

For Macedonia that sounds tempting, but it doesn't change the essence. On the European side, the position still stands that constitutional amendments are a condition for formally starting negotiations. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, for his part, repeats that he won't make concessions without a clear perspective. "I will never enter such a process without knowing that it has an end," he said in a TV interview.

November brings new reports on the candidates and roadmaps for the four front-runners: Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine and Moldova. Macedonia is not on that list. Between the constitutional amendments Brussels demands and the guarantee Skopje demands, the country stays in the waiting room it has been sitting in since 2005.