Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok at a news conference Monday in Skopje said he hoped the EU negotiating framework for North Macedonia would be adopted during six-month Portugal’s EU presidency.
“I hope that your negotiating framework will be adopted during the Portuguese presidency and that all member countries will reach consensus on the matter,” he told the news conference alongside his host Bujar Osmani.
Asked whether the pandemic could delay the issue of the negotiating framework being revisited at the coming General Affairs Council meeting, Korčok said the pandemic should not be an obstacle.
“The pandemic shouldn’t prevent us from defining the negotiating framework, through which we assess the country’s progress in terms of meeting the membership conditions,” the top diplomat said adding North Macedonia had done so much “We are close, but consensus is needed.”
Korčok considers rule of law as key criterion. “Everything begins and ends with rule of law and the fight against corruption never ends,” he noted adding that North Macedonia had made progress in fighting corruption in the past few years.
“It isn’t perfect, but no one will say that the job is done, everyone will agree that it must continue. Rule of law is something that keeps the EU together. Without rule of law there is no prosperity, no investments, no new jobs, no trust in institutions,” he stressed.
The Slovak minister reiterated that reforms should be implement to benefit the citizens rather than in the interest of the Brussels bureaucracy.
“It is in our interest to support you on your path to the EU,” FM Korčok said among other things commending the country and its achievements in the past several years in preventing migration waves and combating organized crime.
