Thursday, 6 December 2012
RESPECT OF THE EUROPEAN VALUES AND PRINCIPLES WILL LEAD TO IMPROVED RELATIONS AMONG THE NEIGHBOURS
Delegation from the Committee on European Affairs of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia composed of Mr. Hajrula Misini, Mr. Vladimir Gjorčev and Mr. Gordan Georgiev visited Brussels on 4-6 December. They met with the Bulgarian members of the European Parliament Mr. Kristian Vigenin (S&D), Mr. Andrey Kovatchev (EPP) and Mr. Stanimir Ilchev (ALDE), as well as with the Co-Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee Republic of Macedonia - European Union - Mr. Jorgo Chatzimarkakis.
The Macedonian parliamentarians and their colleagues from the European parliament exchanged views on the current developments and the forthcoming meeting of the Council of the EU, and about the possibility for confirmation of the European Commission recommendation for opening the accession negotiations with the Republic of Macedonia.
One of the main topics was the development of good-neighbourly relations between Macedonia and the two neighbouring countries that are members of the EU. Both sides agreed that this should be done with joint projects in various fields, building of the bridges of cooperation and friendship, and finding solution for the open issues, at the same time respecting the European values and principles.
The Macedonian delegation also took part in the Conference: “Balkans Progress: Battling to overcome the impact of crisis”.
The Conference brought together numerous key players from the region and the EU institutions to debate some of the most pressing issues facing the Western Balkans, in light of the Euro-integration process of all the countries in the region.
In his keynote speech, the EU Enlargement Commissioner Mr. Štefan Füle said: “Besides enlargement fatigue, we are also talking about reform fatigue amongst the candidate countries. We need creativity to maintain the momentum of enlargement,” and urged for an EU which is “enlargement friendly”.
Mr. Füle welcomed the reforms and the progress made by the Republic of Macedonia in the High Level Accession Dialogue. Regarding the bilateral dispute over the use of the constitutional name of Macedonia, he said that the problem should be solved in the early stages of negotiations.
Mr. Gjorčev asked why the right of a nation to choose its name was not respected and why, despite the emphasis on the rule of law, the EU does not respect the ruling of the International Court of Justice regarding the bilateral dispute over the name of the country.
Commissioner Füle said that although no one can object to the right of the countries to freely choose their name, the countries must also have in mind the building of good-neighbourly relations.