Rehn doubts deal soon on Macedonia’s EU membership talks

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Friday he doubted EI foreign ministers would agree to start Macedonian membership talks next week because of a long-running name dispute.

“Starting membership negotiations requires a recommendation from the Commission but also acceptance from all member countries and one can expect that at the moment those prerequisites do not exist,” Commissioner Rehn told reporters in Helsinki.

He suggested negotiations could resume before mid-2010, and said he hoped the EU Council “will welcome the Commission’s proposal to start the negotiations” when it “probably” discusses it on Monday.