Wednesday, 10 February 2010
The European Parliament adopted the Report on the Republic of Macedonia
The MEPs, with majority votes adopted the Report on the Republic of Macedonia submitted by the Slovenian MEP Mr. Zoran Thaler, Rapporteur for the Republic of Macedonia . 548 MEPs voted “for”, 45 “against” and 35 abstained from the voting.
MEPs generally greeted the progress made by the Republic of Macedonia on the way towards membership in the European Union and expressed their hope that the country will receive date for opening negotiations.
The Resolutions calls the Council of EU, to confirm the recommendation of the European Commission for opening negotiations on the next Summit in March, without further delay.
The Republic of Macedonia is recommended to continue with reforms in the public administration, fight against corruption and sustaining inter-ethnic relations and to fully implement the Ohrid Framework Agreement. Also, the Macedonian Authorities are requested , in the regulation against discrimination to acknowledge the discrimination upon sexual orientation.
The New Commissioner on Enlargement, Mr. Stefan Fule stated that the contry deserves recommendation for opening negotiations and that the country should use the present situation and solve the name issue with Greece.