NGO Atina signatory to a petition to the President of the European Council 

NGO Atina signed a Petition submitted by civil society organizations from the Western Balkans to the President of the European Council, Mr. Donald Tusk, regarding the opening of accession negotiations with the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania in June 2019. The Petition, signed by 85 CSOs and 11 individuals from the Western Balkans, was forwarded to the President of the European Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker.  

“Dear Mr. President Tusk,
Civil society organizations of the Western Balkans, and citizens of our societies, express their hopes and expectations that the European Council will hold true to its promise to set a clear path toward the opening of accession negotiations with the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania in June 2019, as stated in the Conclusions on Enlargement and Stabilization and Association Process, adopted by the Council on June 26, 2018. We consider good neighborly relations as one of the key factors of consolidation of the Western Balkans and its faster integration into the European Union. We highly appreciate the courage and persistence of the leadership of North Macedonia and Greece and the pattern of resolving open bilateral issues set by them. We believe that it will be conducive to the settlement of other disputes in the region, bringing stability and European future to us all. We fear that further postponing of accession negotiations with two important Western Balkan countries would seriously affect pro-European attitude of the population in the entire region and endanger credibility of the European Union. Moreover, it could discourage political elites in the region from resolving other important bilateral disputes. Two more candidate countries in the Western Balkans would bring a new energy, stability, and hope to the region that suffered a decade of conflicts, and two decades of confidence-building and developing regional cooperation. We believe in the European Union project, and expect that internal reforms will make it even stronger and ready to contribute to the EU becoming a true home to all the people of Europe.

Civil society organizations of the Western Balkans”

Petition, with all the signatures, can be found below: