Tivat in the Background: The France-Germany Informal Document Mickoski Links to the Identity Dispute
The document may become part of official Council conclusions in October — but the identity link is not officially confirmed yet.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, explaining his Concordia remark about "identity versus institutions" to the domestic public, pointed to concrete backing: an informal document jointly presented by France and Germany at the EU-Western Balkans summit in Tivat in June this year. "Such an attempt exists. There was a joint presentation by France and Germany of an informal document," Mickoski said.
According to the prime minister, based on information from delegations in Brussels, that informal, non-binding document could become part of official EU policy as early as October, through Council conclusions. The document's stated purpose, when presented in Tivat, was to create incentives for faster reforms and inject new "momentum" into enlargement policy.
In parallel, debate is intensifying within the EU over a new enlargement model — gradual integration with concrete benefits ahead of full membership. The Franco-German document is one of several initiatives in that direction; there is also an informal group of member states advocating that future members not be treated as "second-tier."
The link Mickoski draws — between this document and his own thesis that certain member states are using the accession process to change identity rather than institutions — has not yet been confirmed by an official Brussels source. Whether the document will actually make it into the October conclusions, and in what form, remains to be seen.
MKNews Hub · World · September 24, 2026
