Thursday, 14 March 2019
Address of the President Xhaferi to Members of Parliament in the Seimas of Lithuania
Today, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania has ratified the Protocol of the North Atlantic Treaty for the accession of the Republic of North Macedonia with a unanimous voting from 92 votes pro. President Xhaferi who is in Vilnus on invitation of the Speaker of the Seimas, Mr. Pranckietis, addressed the Seimas with the following words:
Distinguished Speaker of the Seimas,
Distinguished fellow Members of Parliament,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Distinguished media representatives,
Allow me to share with you the pleasure of being a witness of today’s ceremonial act for us, the citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia and for all who contributed to where we are today, trusted us and supported us. The Seimas of Lithuania and the state of Lithuania with the act of Ratification of the Protocol for our accession to the NATO Alliance, confirmed once again the honest and unconditional support that we have had and received from you during all these years. Therefore, allow me to extend my sincere gratitude on my personal behalf, on behalf of the Members of the Parliament of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia and on behalf of the citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia.
On this occasion, I would like to inform you that all state institutions, all actors in the society and the non-governmental sector selflessly engage and contribute towards making reforms in all areas of social life and this process is not easy at all, however, we have a clear goal in front of us and we know what we want to achieve, namely, we want to fulfill our already adopted strategic goal, the full-fledged membership in NATO and the EU. This means building a true democratic state with rule of law and functioning institutions in the service of citizens. Given the well-known obstacles, we concentrated as much as we can on the closing of the issues that burdened our path towards achieving these goals, we signed the Agreement for Friendship, Good Neighborly Relations and Cooperation with the Republic of Bulgaria and we signed the Final Agreement for resolving the name dispute with the Republic of Greece. It was not easy at all, however, the reason, the vision for a safe and prosperous future won; they won for the benefit of the citizens, for the benefit of the state and the entire region. Our citizens deserve to be happy citizens, with equal rights and freedoms, with European values and standards, with equal opportunities and chances. We were not and we are not alone on this path. Our true friends and partners have always been there for us, and we are immensely grateful for that.
Dear Members of the Parliament,
Our efforts were not in vain and currently we are in the phase of passing the last kilometers to our full-fledged membership in NATO and the opening of negotiations for membership in the European Union. Regarding NATO, we hope that by the end of this year or the beginning of 2020, the Protocol for full-fledged membership of the Republic of North Macedonia in NATO will be ratified in all 29 national parliaments and thus become the thirtieth full-fledged member with all rights and obligations that each NATO member has. The Protocol was first ratified by Greece that paved the way for all other national parliaments. So far, the Republic of Slovenia, the Republic of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania, and today Lithuania, have sealed with concrete deeds their friendly attitude towards us. The Republic of North Macedonia will never forget this act.
Thank you for the attention!