President wants EU to offer accession criteria to N. Macedonia, Albania

Polish President Andrzej Duda expressed hope in Lany, the Czech Republic, on Thursday, that clear EU accession criteria for North Macedonia and Albania will be defined as early as October. "This will be a test showing what an open EU looks like," President Duda said after a meeting of the presidents of the Visegrad Group together with the presidents of Slovenia and Serbia. Duda told a news conference that today's talks focused on the EU accession of Western Balkan countries. He stressed that the V4 countries had a clearly-defined position on this issue. "We are an advocate of an open door to the EU. We believe that this is the only path for Europe to develop in a calm and peaceful way," he said.