Brussels, 26 July 2022 (MIA) - For North Macedonia, this should be a moment to sober up, also for the opposition. Burning documents in the plenary chamber, pushing people to violence, and inciting hatred bring nothing, only damage, Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi told EURACTIV in an interview. Várhelyi also added “will for enlargement is back, we’re ready to move fast.” Brussels-based web portal also said after Skopje resolved a long-running dispute with neighbouring EU member Bulgaria, Albania is expected to start accession negotiations immediately. Regarding North Macedonia, it noted, it will first need to change its constitution to include Bulgarians among the other nation-building nations listed in it, for which it does not have the necessary consensus in parliament. This prompted, it said, the nationalist opposition to stage days of protests in Skopje, which Várhelyi said crossed the basic democratic red lines. “For North Macedonia, this should be a moment to sober up, also for the opposition. Burning documents in the plenary chamber, pushing people to violence, and inciting hatred bring nothing, only damage.” “There are very clear limits to the European way of doing politics, very clear limits to civilised politics, and my assessment is that many of those red lines were passed by the opposition,” he added. At the same time, he pointed out that “Albania has shown true solidarity with North Macedonia and maturity in understanding that our member states wanted the two countries to go ahead“ but said Albania could now proceed on its own. “The whole enlargement process is merit-based, and now the race is on, whoever delivers first, should be eligible to join first,” Várhelyi clarified. “What is important is that if they deliver fast, we are ready to move fast as well, (…) and since we are in charge now, finally, speed is going to be much, much different,” he said, adding that the Commission had started the screening procedure right after member states gave the green light last week. In the interview Várhelyi said that Russia’s war on Ukraine has sobered up debate around the EU’s enlargement process and shown the need to speed up the procedures, essentially halted by the previous Commission. The comments came after EU leaders in June granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova as a signal of solidarity in response to Russian aggression and member states in July green-lighted the start of long-delayed accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. ”Maybe it is the only positive impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine because it sobered up the discussion around enlargement as well as the EU’s absorption capacity,” Várhelyi said. “We Europeans, now not only realise, but are ready to deliver on that, that Europe is not going to enjoy security, stability and prosperity without the Western Balkans being fully integrated,” he said. In recent years, EURACTIV reminded, there has been little appetite for enlargement within the EU, and some member states have called for EU reform before admitting any new members. “Don’t forget, we took over from a European Commission which said ‘no enlargement’ – the damage was done there,” Várhelyi said, adding that towards the second half of their mandate, the Juncker Commission “realised this was a strategic mistake.” “What I expect now, and what will be a huge responsibility for the European Commission, is that now there is a clear political will, which wasn’t always obvious.” Asked about French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal of a European Political Community, which would strengthen the bloc’s ties with non-EU countries in its near neighbourhood, Várhelyi said only that this “could add another layer”.