Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski today endorsed the warning from his Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, who said that Macedonia will lose focus on the dispute with Bulgaria if Bulgaria continues to veto our EU accession talks beyond June. Kovacevski reminded the EU that Macedonia has been a candidate country for 17 years and still hasn’t opened its EU accession talks.

As a country, we did a lot, and our citizens have done a lot of work. We made some sacrifices along the way and some difficult decisions, so it is time for the EU to finally make its decision. Any process that lasts too long and ends without conclusion reduces the faith of the citizens and lowers their trust, Kovacevski said during the event today when NATO military aircraft were displayed at an airport near Skopje.

Kovacevski will likely meet with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov in Rome for the honoring of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in late May, and before that Petkov will head out to Washington for meetings.