The Commission has rightly once again recommended the start of negotiations with Macedonia and as a Government we have done virtually everything to meet the necessary reforms. It is now up to the European Council, which should take into account what we have done, as well as the methodology and open the negotiations with the EU. We rightly expect the strategic mistake made in October to be rectified and to start EU accession negotiations as soon as possible, said National Coordinator for EU Integration, the Berlin Process and Regional Cooperation, Bojan Maricic.

The EU summit in Zagreb is in May. The European Council’s October conclusion is that this issue should be revisited before the May Summit. What did our task, and it was crucial for us that there are no excuses and no reason not to make the decision faster. This report is a stamp of our reforms, of our successes so far, in difficult times, with a lot of effort, but also the methodology is in some ways paving the way for the start of negotiations. Whether that will happen in March or later is also a strategy of EU member states, Maricic said.