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		</div><p>European affairs ministers agreed Tuesday to allow Albania and North Macedonia to begin European Union membership talks.</p>
<p>It paves the way for the bloc’s leaders to sign off on the move that could end years of setbacks and disappointment for the two Balkan nations.</p>
<p><em>“We reached a political decision to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia,”</em> Croatia’s European affairs minister, Andreja Metelko Zgombic, said, after chairing a meeting of the ministers held by video conference.</p>
<p>She described the decision as “good news, historic news, for those two countries” and said EU leaders were likely to rubber stamp it on Thursday.</p>
<p>No date was announced for the start of the membership negotiations, which can take several years.</p>
<p>Albania and North Macedonia were meant to begin talks last year on joining the EU.</p>
<p>French President Emmanuel Macron blocked the action and said he would continue to do so until the process for allowing countries into the 27-nation bloc had been reformed.</p>
<p>Mr Macron did so despite warnings that further delays to the countries’ membership quests could undermine stability in the volatile Balkans region.</p>
<p>North Macedonia’s leader reacted by stepping down and calling a snap parliamentary election.</p>
<p>The European Commission later revised the accession process for North Macedonia and Albania to respond to French and Dutch objections.</p>
<p>North Macedonia, previously known as Macedonia, has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005, but a long-running dispute with Greece over the country’s name stood in the way of accession negotiations.</p>
<p>The two neighbours struck a deal for Macedonia to rename itself North Macedonia in exchange for Greece dropping its objections to the country joining the EU.</p>
<p>Countries must negotiate 35 so-called chapters, or policy areas, to join the EU.</p>
<p>The chapters include financial, agriculture, transport, energy, social and justice policy.</p>
<p>The process can be drawn out. Croatia, which joined the EU in 2013, started its negotiations at the same time as Turkey, which is unlikely to become a member any time soon.</p>
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