EU Commissioner for enlargement Johannes Hahn on Friday engaged in "damage control", days after a peculiar statement regarding Albania's pending EU accession process and borders between Greece and the former, in which he used the word "restructuring".
In a press briefing on Friday in Brussels with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama at his side, the Austrian Commissioner expressed regret, as he said, over the fact that his words were misinterpreted.
The two men met at the EU Commission's headquarters to signal the official commencement of preparatory talks for EU-Albania accession negotiations until June 2019.
Hahn merely reiterated that the resolution of bilateral differences between neighbors - one an EU member and the other a candidate state, in this case - is a condition for the latter's accession prospects to proceed. He also reminded that the EU will not accept any new member-state that has pending differences with neighbors.
As such, he pointed out that the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) has resolved differences with Bulgaria and Greece.
