Prime Minister Zoran Zaev met Monday the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, who is visiting our country at the invitation of Parliament Speaker, Talat Xhaferi.

The fact that Macedonia is the first country to be visited by the newly elected President of the European Parliament speaks about the great support he and the European Parliament have for our country, said Zaev after the meeting.

According to him, this visit is a great opportunity to express our gratitude to the European Parliament, to all MEPs who voted for the resolution calling on EU members to start negotiations with Macedonia and Albania, after such a decision was not made at the October session of the EC and the Summit of the leaders of the EU member states. 

Almost all European leaders agreed that great injustice was done to Macedonia on 18 October and that not reaching a decision to open EU accession negotiations was a historic mistake. It sent the wrong signal to us all in the country and in the region. Instead, it has put on the agenda questions of Eurosceptics and the dilemmas of whether the EU really sticks to its enlargement policies and whether there is an alternative. It is not easy to continue without the structured and systematic pressure brought on by the accession negotiations – but we have no alternative. We must continue, even stronger, with reforms, with evidence that the country has the rule of law, that it has strong arguments for economic progress. These reforms are most needed for us, at home, said Zaev.

Zaev emphasized that the country and the citizens believe in the EU values and are convinced that the new chance for our country will open soon.

We firmly believe that the prospect of EU membership is irreplaceable and should not be questioned if we truly want stable, secure and prosperous Western Balkans, said Zaev.