Macedonia unready to start membership talks: EU official

(BRUSSELS) - Macedonia is not yet ready to start European Union membership talks, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Monday, less than three weeks before an evaluation of the Balkan state's accession hopes.

"We will make our evaluation on November 5 but for the moment, I believe, it will be difficult to recommend opening accession negotiations," with Macedonia, he told AFP.

On November 5, the European Commission will publish a progress report on Skopje's efforts to meet eight political benchmarks for starting membership negotiations and address problems in the June 1 elections, which in some areas were disrupted by violent incidents.

The benchmarks cover commitments in areas such as political dialogue, the implementation of police laws, the fight against corruption, judiciary and public administration reform, and measures to boost employment and business.

Macedonia became an official EU candidate in 2005 but membership negotiations never started. The commission, the EU's executive arm, has the job of recommending to the 27 member nations when the talks should begin.

The country had hoped that its fortunes would change this time around.

But Rehn said Monday: "For the moment, it seems to me that the eight conditions have not been met, nor has the ninth, that is, the elections."

Skopje also faces another major hurdle: a more than 15-year dispute with Greece over its right to the name "Macedonia," which is shared by a northern Greek region.

A veto by Athens over the name dispute led to Macedonia walking out of a NATO summit in Bucharest in April after it was refused membership of the transatlantic alliance.

After the collapse of the old Yugoslav federation, Macedonia was recognised by the United Nations in 1993 as the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM).

An opinion poll in August showed that more than 87 percent of Macedonians want their country to become an EU member, with less than five percent opposed.