Wednesday, 27 January, European Parliament
Amendments on the Report for Macedonia Adopted
56 MEP voted “for”, 5 MEP- “restrained” and 5 MEP- ”against” the amendments on the Report for Republic of Macedonia , submitted by the Slovenian MEP and Rapporteur Mr. Zoran Thaler. The amendments request Macedonia to receive a date on opening the accession negotiations with EU in March 2010.
These amendments on which the Committee on Foreign Affairs debated yesterday, call Brussels to assist the negotiation process for the name issue.
Mr. Thaler stated that this is a very positive voting for Macedonia and a good signal from the parliament to the Commission and EU Council, and above all for the Governments of Skopje, Athens and Sofia.
In the same time, Mr. Thaler stated his concern for the delay of the opening negotiations by the Council of Ministers in December and that this can result in worsening the inter-ethnic consequences for the stability of the region.