Since we don’t know when Macedonia will obtain the EU member status, we can’t leave a vacuum because citizens’ frustrations will rise, and there is no offer from EU with specific benefits for the citizens of candidate countries, FM Bijar Osmani told Telma TV on Wednesday.

“Hence, those frustrations will be abused by third parties, which will try to create anti-European, anti- Western atmosphere, ass we are already witnessing in Macedonia. Therefore, we offered this model of more integration prior to full membership, so we can preserve the credibility of the process, and the citizens will be able to get introduced to EU benefits while we are negotiating the full membership. The Chairwoman of the European Council, Ursula von der Layen promptly responded to our lobbying, which started in Skopje, and in coordination with the other countries of the region came with a plan that already yields results”, Osmani claims.