North Macedonia seeking bilateral gas interconnection agreement

The North Macedonian government, unperturbed by its recent setback for EU accession talks, is moving to establish a bilateral agreement with Greece for the development of a natural gas pipeline interconnection linking the two countries.

North Macedonia’s dampened EU membership aspirations emerged as an unfavorable development for the project, which has remained stagnant.

A handful of EU member states, led by France, recently blocked North Macedonia, as well as Albania, from starting EU membership talks.

The North Macedonian government has approved a proposal for the commencement of negotiations with Greece that would lead to a bilateral agreement for this gas interconnection project.

The interconnection’s pipeline would run 80 km from Gevgelija to Negotino on the North Macedonian side and approximately 60 km on the Greek side, according to a project location deemed appropriate by North Macedonian officials, Greek diplomats have informed Athens.