EU Targets Next Year for Accession Talks With Macedonia After Name Change

Some member states successfully sought to tie the actual start of talks to the country taking on domestic reforms

LUXEMBOURG—The European Union on Tuesday set a target date to begin membership talks with Macedonia next year but warned the country would have to vigorously pursue domestic reforms for negotiations to start in earnest.

The decision, which came after 10 hours of fractious discussions in Luxembourg, offers conditional support for Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. He sealed an agreement this month with Greece on changing his country’s name to North Macedonia, an issue which had long blocked the country’s EU and North Atlantic...