During his one-day visit to the Republic of France, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia responsible for European Affairs, Dr. Fatmir Besimi, today met Pierre Sellal, Secretary General at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of France, Fabian Pennant, member of the French President’s cabinet and Michel Casa, Director for the European Union at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In addition, Deputy Prime Minister Besimi held individual meetings with Members of the Senate, Joel Garriott-Maylam and Jean-Pierre Michel, President of the French Senate – Western Balkans Friendship Group.
At the meetings, the latest statuses of the implementation of activities under the High Level Accession Dialogue and other reform processes important for the Euro-integration of the Republic of Macedonia were discussed.
Besimi emphasised that the High Level Accession Dialogue has brought new dynamics to the implementation of reforms in the five key areas and that the achieved progress was justly acknowledged in the Spring Report of the European Commission, thus reaffirming that the country has fulfilled the requirements for opening accession negotiations.
At the meetings, France welcomed once again the progress achieved in the fulfilment of the benchmarks under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. The need for further efforts concerning the dialogue with journalists, implementation of the agreement of 1 March and maintaining good neighbourly relations was pointed out. Emphasis was also laid on the promotion of regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations, which are important for getting closer to the Union. Finding a solution to the name dispute would contribute significantly to the opening of negotiations with the Union and therefore France urges Macedonia and Greece not to lose time in finding a jointly acceptable solution in a pragmatic way and by means of a compromise.
Furthermore, attention was brought to the fact that Macedonia and France have an excellent bilateral cooperation, which is also confirmed by the support that Macedonia has been receiving for its integration into the European Union.