Skopje, 14 November 2023 (MIA) — Commenting on EU's top diplomat Josep Borrel's recent statement that the EU wants to include the Western Balkans in its foreign and security policy decision-making even before the region joins the bloc, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani said North Macedonia was already fully aligned with the EU's foreign and security policy, so it should be included indeed.

"I am sorry that our initiative for more integration ahead of membership somehow did not garner much public attention because our idea was identical," FM Osmani said.

"I keep saying, in every speech, that if North Macedonia is 100% compliant with the foreign and security policy, why am I not part of the EU Foreign Affairs Council?

"I don't have to have the right to vote while we are still not a member state, but I should be at the table, as we all should be at the table wherever we are aligned with the EU's reforms and standards. We should have access to the common market. We should have access to the money," Osmani said.

The foreign minister pointed out that as a candidate country, North Macedonia was currently receiving funding of 160 euros per capita from the EU, while Bulgaria, as a neighboring European member state, was getting 4,700 euros per capita.

"If this goes on, instead of creating a social convergence, we keep drifting apart. That's why I promoted the idea that we should have access to those funds ahead of our membership. We should have access to the market. We should sit at the table so when we become a member it won't be big news, because the country will have developed by then and all this will be matter-of-fact.

"And the EU has accepted this. Austria accepted it through its non-paper. Germany and France in a different way but in the same context, and the EU has, with its Growth Plan [for the Western Balkans] presented by [Ursula] von der Leyen, and yesterday, with Borrell's statement. So, I think we should be proud that one of our authentic ideas has become a mainstream idea in the EU," Osmani said.

While chairing the EU – Western Balkans ministerial meeting Monday with the six ministers of the region, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy posted on the platform X, formerly Twitter, that "The place of the Western Balkans is in the EU."

"We want to advance the integration of the region into our decision making, including on foreign and security policy – already before accession," Borrell wrote.

On Monday, the Foreign Affairs Council discussed "EU's perspective on the situation in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, the situation in the South Caucasus, while including the candidate countries, the Western Balkan countries, as part of this idea that we are part of the process even before becoming members," Osmani said.

"We are in a comfortable position at these meetings because we have 100% foreign policy compliance and we are always singled out as an example by all member states of how a country can prove to be a reliable partner for the EU even before becoming a member state," he said.

North Macedonia's top diplomat did not attend the Monday meeting in Brussels because of previously scheduled meetings within North Macedonia's OSCE Chairpersonship-in-Office held in Skopje on Monday and Tuesday with OSCE member countries' ambassadors and OSCE's Secretary General Helga Schmid attending.

Representing North Macedonia at the EU – Western Balkans ministerial meeting in Brussels was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Fatmire Isaku, Osmani said. mr/