Macedonia finds itself in a key momentum regarding its EU perspective. It is not our task to tell you what to do. Our task is to share the perspective that it is time to use the window of opportunity you have now because next year it will be more complicated. Next year, the EU will probably concentrate more on itself in the context of institutional changes, Poland’s Minister for the European Union, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, said in a conversation with MIA alongside his colleagues from Germany and France, Anna Lührmann and Laurence Boone.

“It is important to underline, which is why we are also here with my colleagues from Germany and France, that Macedonia finds itself in a key momentum regarding its EU perspective. The first thing is the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Of course, it meant suffering for the Ukrainian nation, but on the other hand, it opened a new political view on many things. I will just mention that Macedonia joined NATO, but also Finland joined NATO, which also meant a new perspective to the NATO enlargement. It also meant a new perspective for the EU enlargement because Ukraine and Moldova were granted EU candidate status. This is the first perspective. The second perspective is next year’s elections for the European Parliament and the institutional changes within the EU, including the establishment of a new European Commission, which means that we have a window of opportunity in the upcoming months. Next year, the EU will probably concentrate more on itself in the context of institutional changes. These weeks, these months represent an opportunity that Macedonia should use to make some steps towards EU integration, and we are here to support these steps,” Szynkowski pointed out.