Brussels, 12 March 2024 (MIA) — North Macedonia is a solid partner to the United States, both bilaterally and multilaterally within NATO and the OSCE, and Washington expects that even the new government, after the elections, will be committed to the country's membership in the Alliance and EU integration, according to US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs and Special Representative to the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar at a Brussels briefing, MIA's Brussels correspondent reports.

Speaking to the press ahead of his visit to Prishtina, Vienna and Podgorica, Escobar said the previous government had been committed to the state's NATO membership and accession to the EU, adding that the US administration expected that the new government that will be formed after the elections would be also committed to NATO, to joining the EU and to the fight against corruption.

He said he hoped to visit North Macedonia after the elections, because during this visit to the region, he said, he would focus on current issues related to recent developments in Kosovo and in Montenegro.

Asked if the US Senate's proposed respolution to advocate for the opening of the first negotiating cluster of the EU with North Macedonia without additional bilateral conditions was a change in the position of the USA regarding the country's constitutional amendents, Escobar said both North Macedonia and Bulgaria were important NATO member states and allies of Washington, so the US administration wanted a peaceful resolution of all issues.

He highlighted that the USA encouraged North Macedonia and Bulgaria to continue their dialogue based on facts and was committed to the country's remaining on the European path.

Washington had received assurances from Bulgaria that they wanted North Macedonia to join the EU, Escobar noted.

According to him, it was the region's open issues that made the Western Balkans susceptible to malicious interference from the outside, including Russia, so to minimize that danger, efforts should be made, he said, to overcome any unresolved issues. mr/