EU leaders have agreed to open membership talks with Macedonia and Albania by the end of 2019, if both Balkan aspirants show enough progress in judicial and anti-corruption reforms. The leaders said in a summit statement on Friday that they endorsed an agreement on Tuesday among the bloc’s ministers to review Albania and Macedonia’s progress in June 2019 and open talks at a conference by the end of next year. There was no debate on the issue by leaders at their two-day summit in Brussels, Reuters said. The statement reflects a compromise among EU governments to keep EU membership hopes of the Western Balkan countries alive and seek further reforms.