Skopje, 19 July 2022 (MIA) – Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said Tuesday’s beginning of the European Union accession negotiations is a result of 17 years of difficult, important, significant and patriotic decisions and it is built upon the work and effort of all citizens of the country, regardless of their ethnic, religious or any other self-determination. “The work and effort of numerous leaders of the country since its independence is included, from the first President Kiro Gligovor, Prime Minister Nikola Kljusev, through Presidents Boris Trajkovski, Branko Crvenkovski and the other prime ministers, ministers and leaders of the country, all those employed in the institutions who worked on preparing North Macedonia for the beginning of negotiations,” said PM Kovachevski ahead of the beginning of the Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels. This, he added, is also a result of the big decision that the citizens, through their MPs in Parliament, made in the past days. “We very clearly said that we as a country are a sort of a little Europe and a country which from a civilizational, historical and every other aspect belongs in the EU,” said Kovachevski. The PM expressed his gratitude to French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and all other Presidents and Prime Ministers of the 27 EU member states for today's start of North Macedonia’s EU accession talks. ad/ik/