Brussels, 19 December 2024 (MIA) – Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, who is visiting Brussels, will take part Thursday in the European People’s Party EPP Summit, whose main topics include preparations ahead of today’s European Council and EU enlargement.

Hosted by EPP President Manfred Weber, the event in addition to Mickoski brings together other leaders of EPP members from the EU and the Western Balkans, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

In Brussels, Mickoski is joined by Foreign Minister Timcho Mucunski and Minister of European Affairs Orhan Murtezani.

On Wednesday, the PM participated in the EU-Western Balkans Summit and held bilateral meetings with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, and the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk.

The goal of the Macedonian delegation is to defend Macedonian interests and Macedonian identity and to send a message that our place is in the European Union as its equal and full-fledged member.

“Today, we are here in Brussels to send a message that Macedonian citizens and the state of Macedonia deserve their place with the other 27 EU member-states, and our place is on the same table because we share the same values, fight for the same values and believe in those values - united in diversity,” he said in Brussels.

In the meeting with Kallas, he said they discussed “all the fears and everything that the country and its people had to do in the past in the name of the European values.”

“We should never again, for our sake and for the sake of the values we share with the EU, discuss bilateral issues and identity issues, and that no one has the right to deny our ages-long identity and our Macedonian language," said Mickoski.

Implementing the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, regional integration efforts and ways to further improve the gradual integration between the European Union and the region were the focal point of Wednesday’s EU-Western Balkans Summit.

The leaders adopted the final Brussels Declaration noting that the future of the Western Balkans is in the EU reconfirming their full and unequivocal commitment to the European Union membership perspective of the Western Balkans.

“Enlargement is a geostrategic investment in peace, security, stability and prosperity, as stated in the Granada Declaration. There is a new dynamism in the enlargement process and notable progress since our last Summit. The acceleration of the accession process, based on credible reforms by partners, fair and rigorous conditionality and the principle of own merits, is in our mutual interest,” says the document. 

Reconciliation, inclusive regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations, it adds, are at the heart of the European Union. Implementing international agreements in good faith and with tangible results, including the Prespa Agreement with Greece and the Treaty on Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation with Bulgaria, is therefore essential.

“Decisive further efforts are still required to foster reconciliation and regional stability, as well as to find and to implement definitive, inclusive and binding solutions to partners’ regional and bilateral disputes and issues rooted in the legacy of the past, in line with international law and established principles, including the Agreement on Succession Issues, and the remaining cases of missing persons and war crimes issues,” reads the so-called Brussels Declaration.

According to the document, the EU is committed to bringing the Western Balkans closer to the EU already during the enlargement process. 

“Their gradual integration has already started in different policy areas, preparing the ground for accession and bringing concrete benefits to citizens, in a reversible and merit-based manner,” it adds.

The Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, says the declaration, has the potential to double economic growth in the region over the next decade. It will accelerate socio-economic convergence between the Western Balkans and the EU, provided partners implement the EU-related reforms.

The EU welcomes the resolve of the Western Balkans partners to respect and commit to core European values and principles, in line with international law and the restated commitment to the primacy of democracy, fundamental rights and values and the rule of law, notes the document.

“We share a common future and face urgent challenges that we can only overcome together. We owe it to our citizens to build a future of peace and prosperity, based on shared principles and values, and common interests,” concludes the Brussels Declaration. 

Photo: MIA archive/EBS