The SDSM – DUI candidate Stevo Pendarovski received his first congratulations on winning the presidential elections. The first message came from Albanian President Ilir Meta. Albanian voters made the difference for Pendarovski, who easily lost the Macedonian vote in the elections.

Meta phoned Pendarovski to discuss future cooperation in Euro-Atlantic integration. Albanian media widely reported on the crucial role that the Albanian community played in getting Pendarovski elected – turnout was low – the result of high emigration levels, but in Albanian village after village those who voted came out with near 100 percent support for Pendarovski.

A twitter message of congratulations came from Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz who told Pendarovski that he will “continue to support ‘North Macedonia’ on its path to EU membership”.

Also congratulating over Twitter was EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who is a strong supporter of the Zoran Zaev regime. Faced with the difficulty to deliver on the promised EU accession date for Macedonia, Hahn repeated this promise in his message.

I look forward to the continued cooperation on the #EU reform agenda in view of last year’s #Council Conclusions setting the path tow. opening #accession negotiations in June 2019, the Commissioner wrote.