Certain bilateral issues shouldn’t pose an obstacle on North Macedonia’s path to full EU integration, Slovenian Parliament Speaker Igor Zorčič said during a meeting with Macedonian counterpart Talat Xhaferi in Brussels on Monday.

Zorčič stressed that Slovenia supports North Macedonia’s EU accession, briefing Xhaferi on the compromise it made so as not to block Croatia’s EU integration, that is, agreeing to resolve bilateral issues in parallel with the accession process.

During Monday’s meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the European Parliament’s Second Western Balkans Speakers’ Summit in Brussels, Xhaferi expressed thanks for Slovenia’s continuous support for North Macedonia’s EU integration process. Moreover, he underlined that the European Union can’t be complete without full integration of all Western Balkan countries.

Xhaferi also stressed during the meeting excellent cooperation with Slovenia’s representative at the NATO Liaisons Office in Skopje, as well as collaboration in managing the migrant crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“North Macedonia and Slovenia have no unresolved issues, bilateral cooperation is satisfactory at all levels, but there’s room for improvement in the sectors of economy, culture and tourism. Although COVID-19 pandemic slowed down direct bilateral communication, immunization is slowly but surely contributing to restoring regular processes,” Xhaferi said.

Interlocutors agreed that communication between Parliament Speakers is useful, especially when taking place at European institutions, which serves as an additional signal that the EU is showing interest in Western Balkan counties and that enlargement is high on its agenda.

Slovenia is assuming the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2021.