Page 60 - Central & Southeast Outlook 2020

removed in order for the talks to continue.
The other challenges include the fight against crime and corruption, reducing employment and the poverty rate.
Kosovo also expects the EU to extend visa liberalisation for its citizens, a process which was delayed by the EU for several years.
2.6 ​Politics - North Macedonia
North Macedonia is heading for snap general elections in April 2020​after the EU​leaders failed to agree during their summit In October 2019 to set a date for Skopje, (and also Tirana) to start EU accession talks despite previous promises. The rejection came primarily from French President Emmanuel Macron who insists on internal EU reforms in terms of adopting a new enlargement methodology prior to setting a date.
However the European Council is expected to reconsider enlargement before the EU-Western Balkans summit in Zagreb in May 2020. The decision was a disappointment especially in Skopje, as EU leaders were expected to decide to open membership negotiations with North Macedonia​in October 2019, particularly after the country changed its name and resolved the name dispute with Greece.
th​ What is positive is that the country is set to become the 30​ Nato
member in 2020 after it signed the Prespa agreement which solved the name dispute with Greece. Spain will be the last Nato member to sign the accession protocol, which it is expected to do in January.
S&P Global Ratings said in October that the European Council failure to set a date to launch EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania will probably have limited short-term economic consequences, but in the long-term it could potentially weigh on the two countries' reform commitments.
North Macedonia’s parliament is expected to be dissolved in February to open the way for the snap vote. Regular elections were to be held at the end of 2020.
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev will step down on January 1 and the governing Social Democrats will appoint an interim prime minister and government with the participation of the ​conservative ​opposition VMRO-DPMNE to organise free and democratic elections.
Polls in October showed that VMRO-DPMNE was six percentage points ahead of Zaev’s governing Social Democratic Union of ​Macedonia (SDSM). VMRO-DPMNE had the support of 42.6% of those surveyed, while the SDSM had the support of 36.6%.
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