Skopje, 16 December 2021 (MIA) – President Stevo Pendarovski’s position regarding the Open Balkan initiative has been consistent from the start and the President has conveyed his stance personally to Prime Minister Zoran Zaev after the inaugural meeting in Novi Sad, says a statement from the President’s office commenting on PM Zaev’s remarks earlier in the day. “The issue was included in the agenda of the first leaders’ meeting with opposition parties in attendance in 2019 at the President’s office. A unanimous conclusion was reached regarding the Open Balkan initiative by all political representatives at the meeting that our country has no alternative to full-fledged EU membership and that the Open Balkan initiative is unacceptable for the political stakeholders in the Republic of North Macedonia if the initiative itself features this characteristic,” says the statement. The President, it adds, has never opposed strengthening of economic processes, facilitation of customs procedures and free flow of people and capital between the Western Balkan countries. “However, it’s a fact that its potential is limited since half of the countries in the region haven’t joined it,” notes the statement. “President Pendarovski has never given a statement nor made a decision opposing friendship between the nations in the region or their EU integration. Unfortunately, many other politicians in the region have been acting in the opposite direction,” says the statement of the President’s office.