It is a huge historical mistake of the EU that it has not yet started membership negotiations with Macedonia, and that mistake has now been squared away with the separation of Albania in the European integration process, for which I see no reason, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said today at the joint press conference with Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski after the intergovernmental session in Ohrid.

The peoples and countries in the Western Balkans deserve much more than what they get from Brussels and should have been members of the EU a long time ago. Macedonia has been a candidate since 2005, it started together with Croatia, in 2008 together with Croatia they received a positive opinion, now Croatia is a member, and the negotiations with Macedonia have not started. This is a huge historical mistake of the EU and this will be a huge challenge for the Macedonian government – said Prime Minister Orban.

He announced that Hungary is ready to be a mediator in the Macedonian-Bulgarian talks if both countries agree to it.

The adherence of Macedonia is conditioned by the fact that they come to an agreement with Bulgaria in some way. I conveyed the proposal to Prime Minister Mickoski that we as the presidency are ready to mediate, and whether the parties are ready to accept Hungary as a mediator – we will see. We are committed to finding a solution that suits both Macedonia and Bulgaria. That should be resolved by the parties that are in conflict, and we are ready to help – said Orban.

It is difficult to understand, he added, that they are deceiving a nation by starting the EU membership negotiations, while all the countries with which they started are progressing, they are being kept in the background.

National pride is most important and the EU must take that into account. What is happening to Macedonia is an injury to the national pride of the citizens that has been happening continuously for 10 years. You should have been members a long time ago, and this EU relationship hurts the soul. We should build friendships, not wound the soul of a nation. It is a big mistake that you are not a member, and now you are being separated from Albania. I see the only solution in the fact that you must start negotiations by the end of the year – said Orban.

You must start negotiations by the end of this year
The most important topic is the accession of Macedonia to the EU, and Hungary is the chairman of the EU, and it is logical that we talked about that the most, Prime Minister Orban added.

The position of Hungary is known, the stability of the Western Balkans and the accession to the EU are very important. Membership is a huge opportunity for all member states and we all gain a lot, but the EU has lost its dynamism. We must ensure the expansion. We do not ignore the fact that Ukraine and Moldova received extraordinarily accelerated procedures for membership, we must take into account the geopolitical factor, but it is not easy that other countries that have been committed for years are left aside. It is very important to maintain the enlargement agenda of the EU and to accelerate it. We are ready to hold intergovernmental conferences – said Orban.