Kavadarci, 5 October 2022 (MIA) – The European Political Community is not a replacement of the enlargement process or the accession process of your country. Your path to the EU is already very clear, explained in a very detailed manner. The European Political Community and the meeting set to take place tomorrow is a way in which the EU contributes to the joint management of challenges, said EU Ambassador David Geer on Wednesday. Ambassador Geer said that every time the EU faces big and important issues such as Russia’s attack in Ukraine, energy, environment and others that are of enormous importance, it enlarges the circle of participants at its meetings in order to address those issues better. “The EPC meeting is designed to gather more partners in one place, in this case partners from the Western Balkans, EU and other partners that are not part of the EU, so they can discuss issues of enormous importance and address all challenges together. The meeting will not include only our partners from the Western Balkans, but also Great Britain, Switzerland, countries that are not part of the EU enlargement process. I believe the EPC meeting is a positive development that will contribute to the joint management of challenges and is not a replacement for the EU,” Geer told reporters in Kavadarci. On the timeframe of North Macedonia’s EU accession considering the long wait for the start of the accession negotiations and the conditions imposed by neighboring Bulgaria, the Ambassador said the road to Union membership is based on implementation of reforms in various sectors, such as agriculture, trade, rule of law and other reforms, which sooner implementation would lead to sooner membership. “Certain progress in several fields has already been made but this progress should continue. We expect the screening process to finish by the end of next year, giving us a much clearer picture where more work is needed and in which field. Of course, progress itself should be assessed based on how the reforms were implemented. However, it is very important to know that all accession processes in the past – Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro – and now Albania and North Macedonia, have attached great importance to the issue of goodneighborly relations,” noted Geer. He added that North Macedonia should continue to implement the Prespa Agreement and the Friendship Treaty, building relations in good faith. “Of course, this is an obligation for all countries. Let me repeat, reforms, reforms, reforms, because people across the country are already sharing the dream of finally seeing the country move forward,” underlined Ambassador Geer.