Monday, 21 September 2020
MEETING BETWEEN PRESIDENT XHAFERI AND Н.Е. DAVID GEER
The President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, Talat Xhaferi, met today with the newly appointed Ambassador and Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of North Macedonia, H.E. Mr. David Geer.
Congratulating him on his new post, President Xhaferi hailed the excellent cooperation with his predecessors and the EU Delegation in the country. He briefed the Ambassador on the continuous cooperation with the European Parliament and in that framework, the initiative of the EP President, David Sassoli to hold summits with Speakers of Western Balkans Parliaments and the cooperation within the EU-Republic of North Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee. President Xhaferi said the Jean Monnet Dialogue has proved to be a successful tool for advancing the political dialogue and expressed hope that it will continue in the future, as soon as conditions for physical presence 
are created. The Assembly has gone through a lot of turmoil since 2008 and had to go through a thorough reform process in areas detected by EU experts, which were duly transformed into legal solutions and successfully adopted together with the opposition. This, along with the settlement of the bilateral issues with the neighbours, resulted in a date for the start of negotiations in line with a new methodology, providing greater credibility to the process, Xhaferi concluded.
Ambassador Geer congratulated him on his re-election as President and commended him for his successful conduct of the Assembly in the past and this term. He also noted the Delegation’s readiness to fully support the Assembly as a vital institution in the European integration process.
He especially pointed the important role of the Committee on European Affairs during the negotiations, but also the need for a broad party consensus on EU issues. Ambassador Geer said the European Commission and the EU institutions find the adoption of the Anti-Discrimination Law, the amendments to the Electoral Code in line with OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice commission, the expert assistance to the committees for oversight of the security services and the full functionality of the Citizens’ Oversight Council to be of great importance, in light of the forthcoming release of the Progress Report for the country, in October this year.