Page 57 - bne Magazine August 2022
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 bne August 2022 Southeast Europe I 57
the lifting of economic sanctions on Tehran, but talks on finding an agreed formula to achieve that have been deadlocked for months.
Nasser Kanani, the new spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, told reporters during a news conference that a time and place to continue recently launched indirect talks with the US – brokered by the EU – would “soon” be announced.
Kanani’s remarks came a day after Catherine Colonna, France’s new foreign minister, told politicians
that Iran was deploying delaying tactics while pushing ahead with uranium enrichment under its
nuclear programme. “The window of opportunity will close in a few weeks,” she said. “There will not be a better accord to the one which is on the table.”
One big difficulty with Iran is that should it sign up to a reinstatement of the JCPOA, Biden can give Tehran no guarantee that his successor will not unilaterally pull the US out of the multilateral deal, just as former US president Donald Trump did in May 2018, breaking international
diplomatic convention, while asserting that a sanctions-led policy on Iran was the best way to achieve Washington’s aims.
In his interview with La Repubblica, Amir-Abdollahian said: “We are asking for a strong economic guarantee
[as part of a return to the JCPOA].
If a Western business signs a contract with its Iranian counterpart, it must have the certainty that its project will be realised and will be able to receive compensation [if it is not realised because the US once again brings back sanctions].’’
 North Macedonia to embark on EU accession talks after 17 years of setbacks
Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje
North Macedonia will hold its first intergovernmental conference (IGC) with the EU on July 19, three days after the parliament, in the absence of the opposition, gave the green light to the French proposal for lifting the Bulgarian veto on North Macedonia’s EU accession progress.
The country has been waiting for 17 years to start EU accession talks, but has been repeatedly thwarted by two of its neighbours – first Greece and lately Bulgaria – which used their positions as EU members to demand concessions from Skopje.
Despite the breakthrough, the opening of EU accession chapters is expected only after the second IGC, which will be held after North Macedonia adds ethnic Bulgarians to the constitution, one of Bulgaria’s conditions for lifting its veto. This is an unprecedented addition to EU enlargement policy.
The vote will also enable Albania, which was coupled with North Macedonia in the process, to start EU accession talks, but without conditions.
Opposition MPs boycott vote
68 MPs voted for the conclusions related to the modified French proposal, with no votes against as the opposition led by VMRO-DPMNE left the plenary session before the vote. The vote was supported by all ethnic Albanian parties.
After the parliament gave the green light, the government instantly approved the proposal.
“With this government session, we are making another historic step for our country," said Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski.
 68 MPs backed the proposal in North Macedonia's parliament, but the opposition walked out before the vote took place.
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