The head of the EC arrives in Skopje on the first visit of the Balkan tour

2023-10-29 21:09:47, Kosova & Bota CNA

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Skopje on Sunday evening, starting her tour of the Western Balkans, as she will visit Pristina, Podgorica, Belgrade and Sarajevo after the Macedonian capital.

During her visit to Skopje and other countries of the Western Balkans, the president of the European Commission, Von der Leyen, will present the Investment Framework of the Western Balkans.

The framework is a joint initiative of the European Union, financial institutions and donors, aimed at the socio-economic development and the European perspective of the countries of the Western Balkans.

The investment package planned by the bloc for the advancement of the region amounts to 6 billion euros - 2.1 billion euros in grants and 4 billion euros in loans. However, aid to the region will be conditioned by the degree of reforms implemented in each of the countries separately.

In addition, during the meetings with the Macedonian authorities, a special attention is expected to be paid to the constitutional reforms and changes that are necessary for the European integration.

"We have important issues to discuss regarding reforms and other commitments before the end of the review process and before the publication of the Annual Progress Report 2023. At the meetings on Monday we expect useful discussions focused on the next steps and plans for rapid progress towards full membership in the EU", said the Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister, Bojan Maricic, through a post on Facebook after receiving the EU official at the Skopje airport.

The head of the EC started her visit to North Macedonia with a working dinner with the Macedonian president, Stevo Pendarovski, while on Monday she will be received by the prime minister, Dimitar Kovacevski. She will also visit a fruit and vegetable processing plant financed by the European IPARD program.

In the agenda of the high official of the EU, at the moment there are no meetings with the leaders of the Macedonian opposition, on whom it depends whether the constitutional changes will be approved or not until December, after which it will be known whether the European Council will take it the decision for Albania together with North Macedonia to start the second phase of membership negotiations.

The head of the Macedonian opposition party VMRO DPMNE, Hristijan Mickovski, has said that he expects from Ursula von der Leyen's visit that she will announce the unconditional launch of talks between North Macedonia and the EU.

"I expect that the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will come out with the position that [North] Macedonia will unconditionally start the EU talks and that without the additional conditions that our country is facing, it will let's start the negotiations", declared Mickovski, commenting on the visit of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

The EU official is expected to emphasize the importance of approving the constitutional changes related to the inclusion of the Bulgarian minority in its preamble as a state-forming people, as provided for in what is known as the "French proposal" for resolving disputes with Bulgaria .

The changes must be approved by the Assembly with two-thirds, but the parliamentary majority does not have the necessary votes, so the support of the opposition is required, which opposes them on the grounds that they are "harmful to Macedonian state and national interests"./ REL