Zoran Zaev was in Brussels today to urge European Union officials to be true to their promises and allow Macedonia to open EU accession talks during the Council meeting expected this summer.

Zaev’s EU supporters Federica Mogherini and Johannes Hahn praised Zaev for pushing through the Prespa treaty and renaming his country, and promised that if the reform implementation is on target too, the country would receive a positive recommendation to open accession talks. With Greece’s approval presumed as given, France and the Netherlands remain as the two most critical countries, which show no appetite for further EU enlargement.

It is beautiful to be in Brussels, the European Union will soon be our second home and we are among our friends and partners. We have exceptional events and opportunities and we will check the progress of our country toward European integration, Zaev said during his joint press conference with Mogherini and Hahn.

Besides the name issue, main problems that remain are the high levels of crime and corruption in the country, lagging reforms in the intelligence sector which caused the 2015 political crisis, and problems with the public administration which Zaev is busily filling with party loyalists.