North Macedonia's prime minister on Saturday proposed a snap election after the EU blocked the start of membership talks, scrambling what had been the key policy goal of his administration.

After hours of heated wrangling, European Union leaders on Friday could not agree on opening Skopje's accession negotiations, chiefly because of opposition from France.

The move triggered a wave of anger and disappointment, not just in North Macedonia and Albania - whose bid was also put on hold - but among EU officials and leaders who had lobbied hard to open the talks.

"We are victims of the EU's historic mistake," Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said in a televised address, echoing the words of European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker a day earlier, who appeared deeply apologetic for the decision.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019