After 15 years of waiting , Macedonia will unconditionally start the EU accession negotiations

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Macedonia is starting the EU accession negotiations, said today the Interim Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski. He said that the EU General Committee has reached a consensus that our country has to start the EU membership negotiations as soon as possible.

“The verification of our efforts, capacities and political will of our institutions to implement the reforms that were set as our goal in 2017 has arrived. We closed the four pillars – the judiciary and the rule of law, the reform of the intelligence services, the public administration and the fight against crime and corruption. We managed to achieve impressive results in all of these areas. This was unanimously verified by the EU member countries. Without the Prespa Agreement and the Good neighborly Agreement with Bulgaria the today’s success wouldn’t have been possible. This success is the end of our 15 years of waiting since we were granted the status of a country candidate. The wait is over, the reforms have lifted the barrier, the road is open” said Spasovski.

Spasovski said that the NATO membership and the start of the EU accession negotiations represent a new phase in the country’s development.

The Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs, Bujar Osmani said that we have traversed a long, difficult and heavy road in order to reach this moment.

“When we started this journey, three years ago, even though full with optimism, we weren’t entirely convinced this moment will arrive. Starting from today, we are entering a new phase in the accomplishment of the dream since the country’s independence for a EU membership.” said Osmani.

He said that the European Commission received a carte blanche to start creating the so called negotiation framework for our country that will help organize the first inter government conference that will denote the negotiations’ official start.

The Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Dimitrov stressed that despite the difficult circumstances created by the coronavirus, we are grateful that the EU gave credit for the accomplishments.

“After 15 years in the waiting room as a candidate country and the disappointments in June 2018, June and October 2019, North Macedonia is crossing the threshold and will be able to start the next phase of its European journey” said Dimitrov.