Welcome
Joint statement by Foreign Minister Maas and his counterpart from the Republic of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani
Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani started his working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany this afternoon by meeting with the Foreign Minister of Germany, Heiko Maas.
The meeting discussed topics regarding the European integration of the Republic of North Macedonia as well as the latest regional developments. The main focus of the meeting was placed on the completion of our strategic goal, EU membership, and in that context, the expectations and prospects for the next EU-WB Summitin Brdo at Kranj, Slovenia.
Minister Osmani pointed out:
Friends and partners take into account each other’s perspective and interests. Our meeting was in-depth exchange for the enlargement prospects of North Macedonia and the Western Balkans. It's a privilege to have Germany on board helping to cross the line of mutual success as important geostrategic Investment.
We have an important summit ahead of us and the support of partners like Germany is necessary, first of all, to overcome the differences with Bulgaria in order to unblock the process, but also to restore European credibility in the region, thus countering skepticism in the EU.
Minister Maas stressed during the meeting:
It is high time that the European Union implement the joint decision adopted in March 2020 and launch accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. I want to express my full support to the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council, which has vowed to end the present deadlock. The Brdo summit must send an unambiguous message on the attainability of accession for the Western Balkans. Enlargement policy would gain a lot of credibility by making progress on the North Macedonia file soon.
I want to underline that there is strong consensus among the political parties in the German Bundestag with regards to our continued support for the EU accession path of the Western Balkans. Our engagement will continue through and beyond the current transition phase.
At the meeting, the interlocutors also discussed the overall development of bilateral relations, economic cooperation, the situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemics, current foreign policy matters, as well as cooperation in numerous multilateral organizations.