Have no dilemma about Slovenia, Slovenia isn’t Portugal. Slovenia is one of the best champions of Western Balkans integration into the EU since the country knows the region very well, President Stevo Pendarovski told a news conference in Zagreb.
“Regarding the Slovenian government, which will preside over [EU’s presidency] in the next six months, we have absolutely no dilemma that it will do the best it can within its competence. However, when speaking about the EU presidencies, it is Skopje and Sofia that have to do their job in direct negotiations. I have no doubt that Slovenia will be an excellent presidency holder when it comes to integration of Western Balkan countries,” Pendarovski said answering journalist questions alongside his Croatian host and counterpart Zoran Milanović.
Asked to comment on the remarks by Portugal’s Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias, who said that “the North Macedonian language being once part of the Bulgarian language”, the head of state called it ‘deeply wrong’
“It undermined all the efforts made by her government colleague for months,” Pendarovski stated.
“The good news is that the Portuguese presidency is over. I hope our friends in Slovenia, which takes over the EU helm in the next six months, will resume on the same course all the while fully recognizing the vital national state interests of the two parties. Otherwise, solution is no possible any other way,” the President noted.
Asked about the decoupling of North Macedonia and Albania on their road to EU accession, Pendarovski said he is not fond of ‘moving forward or backward in package.’
“There isn’t a situation in which Skopje might have the moral right to say ‘don’t allow Albania to join because we should join together.’ Skopje will not have anything against Albania’s EU progress when obviously we are frozen due to a bilateral dispute,” President Pendarovski said.
On his part, Croatian President Milanović said North Macedonia and Albania being held in front of the bloc’s door is ‘outrageous’.
“Macedonia and Albania should start negotiating as soon as possible and it won’t be easy. The messages that are being sent are discouraging, discriminatory even,” he told reporters.
