BRUSSELS — European Union member states have agreed to opening membership talks with Albania and Macedonia in a year if reform efforts in the two nations continue to progress.

Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva of Bulgaria, the country currently holding the EU presidency, said Tuesday it was “an important day” for the two nations and “for the Western Balkans as a whole.”

Many of the EU’s member states supported opening up the accession talks immediately. France and the Netherlands opposed the step, saying they first wanted to the reforms sustained.

The EU currently has 28 members, although Britain is set to leave at the end of March 2019.

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