The European Commissioner Johanes Hahn and the Slovakian Minister of foreign affairs Miroslav Lajcak, who presided with the Stabilization and Association Council, asked for a “complete and timely implementation of the Przhino Agreement.”
Lajcak said that the Macedonian representatives- Minister for Foreign Affairs Nikola Poposki and the Minister for European Integrations Fatmir Besimi- had gave an assurance that the Government has understood the message from the EU.
– It is important that the country has kept the door to Europe open at the last moment, said Hahn at the press conference.
He expressed his hopes that this year the institutions in Macedonia will refrain from taking a vacation in order to finish the preparation for the implementation of the Agreement.
– We don’t have time to waste and there is no time for the institutions to go on vacation. Of course, everyone has the right to take a vacation, but not for the institutions, until they are ready to implement what had been agreed upon. On September 15 there will be a special prosecutor, as we concluded, said Hahn, and added that there is the obligation for all to respect every deadline that is part of the Agreement and to work towards preparing the elections on April 24, 2016.
According to Hahn, the European Commission wants to help, but he also emphasized that the responsibility for the implementation is with the Government and the political parties.
He is expecting that the recommendations from the report by Mr. Priebe will be carried out and that everything will be considered further on September 18 in Skopje, during the high dialogue between the Commission and Macedonia.
Hahn added that the Commission, which has facilitated the agreement, cannot facilitate its implementation.
– Everything couldn’t be agreed on June 2, but I hope the political parties will be able to reach an agreement. We facilitated the Agreement but we cannot facilitate everything- stated Hahn.
According to Lajcak, the EU would like to see the country enter membership negotiations and that this will depend on Macedonia. He encouraged Macedonia and Greece to find a solution for the name issue.
