Thursday, 15 September 2016
First Official Meeting of the President of the Macedonian Assembly and the President of the Greek Parliament
Today, the President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Trajko Veljanoski, in the framework of the European Conference of Speakers of Parliament, held in Strasbourg, had a bilateral meeting with the President of the Parliament of the Republic of Greece, Mr. Nikolaos Voutsis.
At the beginning of the meeting, the interlocutors expressed their pleasure from the opportunity to meet and discuss the current challenges both states are faced with. The interlocutors also agreed that these meetings are positive example and are of great importance for deepening the cooperation and further promotion of the relations between the states in all areas.
The President Veljanoski underlined that the Republic of Macedonia remains dedicated and cherishes the relations with the Republic of Greece, reminding of the fact that the two states share same values, tradition, culture and religion, in other words share the ground of closest friends and neighbours. The President Veljanoski underlined that the European integration of the Republic of Macedonia is our priority and that the assistance of the Republic of Greece in this direction is welcomed.
The President Veljanoski underlined that the politicians should be focused on finding ways to stop the spiral of unfavourable news, to promote positive examples of cooperation in the everyday lives among the citizens and find manner to manifest the cooperation on each level of mutual interest.
In regard with the parliamentary cooperation, the President Veljanoski urged the Greek Parliament to establish a Group for Cooperation with our Parliament. In the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, similar to the previous parliamentary compositions, a Parliamentary Group for Cooperation with the Parliament of Greece is established. Also, the President Veljanoski underlined that the Assembly remains open for the Members of the Parliament of Greece to visit, and extended an invitation to the President Voutsis to be his guest and officially visit the Republic of Macedonia.
The President Voutsis underlined that the two states should take the reconciliation example from France and Germany which proved that through a mutual cooperation and sincere intentions all obstacles for successful joint future and for the benefit of the citizens can be surpassed. He underlined that as President of the Parliament, who was previously a member of the executive governance, is always committed to improvement of the cooperation and the overall relations and that the Greek Government in cooperation with our Ministers through various projects works on building trust between the two states and actively participates in the improvement of the bilateral relations between the two states for positive future cooperation.
In regard with the dispute which is an obstacle in the relations between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece for years, President Voutsis underlined that the dispute should be resolved on international level, with international mediation, which is already established and underlined that he hopes on timely solution acceptable for the two sides. In the mean time, according to Mr. Voutsis, one should see the great picture and work on deepening the existing cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as several projects in regard with the international investments. This is significant for the two states to have even greater economic and business cooperation for more efficient usage of the funds.
The President Voutsis underlined that the European Union, i.e. some bigger states have an opinion that the Balkans as a whole should be marginalized and not be on the same level with the rest of the Union. Hence is the stand point of the European Union towards the Republic of Greece. That is why Greece wishes for sooner integration of all Balkan states in the European Union. This would strengthen the Region as a whole, but also improve the position of Greece.
At the end of the meeting the interlocutors confirmed that today’s meeting is an initiation of the future deeper cooperation on Parliamentary level that should also be an impetus for improvement of the overall relations between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece on all levels.