Wednesday, 27 January 2010
The Finnish model- assistance for EU Membership of Macedonia
Members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs from the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia had a meeting with the Delegation from the Grand Committee on European Issues from the Parliament of Finland.
The Delegation was consisted of Mr. Eero Akaan Panttilä, Mr. Esko Kiviranta, Mr. Matti Kappila, Ms. Heli Järvinen, Mr. Antti Violanne, Ms. Elisabeth Nauclér and Mr. Peter Saramo, the Delegation was accompanied by the Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to Macedonia, H.E. Mr. Anri Heikkinen and the Embassy Secretary Ms. Kristina Roine.
The Members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr. Vasko Shutarov, Ms. Hristina Runcheva, Mr. Pavle Trajanov, Mr. Igor Ivanovski, Mr. Vlado Buchkovski, Mr. Nazif Bushi and Ms. Flora Kadriu were hosts of the delegation.
Macedonian MPs expressed their gratitude for the successful cooperation and the support from the Republic of Finland to the Republic of Macedonia in the EU Integration process.
The name issue between the Republic of Macedonia and Greece was underlined; this is not a problem only between the two states, but an obstacle for Macedonia on its path towards the integration in NATO and EU.
It was underlined that Macedonia expects Finnish assistance, and it is well known that the so called Finnish Model helped many candidate countries in the process of European integration. Guests underlined that although this model is positive, it depends on the politicians how it will be used.
They stated that Macedonia is on a good way toward the membership in the Union, which was confirmed by the positive Progress Report from the European Commission, but the name issue remains problematic.
This meeting was an opportunity to appeal for strengthening the trade cooperation between the two states, and there were positive reactions about the deployment of Macedonian soldiers in the Peace Missions.
In the end, those present, expressed hope that the contacts between Macedonia and Finland will be more frequent and that the friendly relations will continue.