Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos’ statement following the conclusion of the Friends of North Macedonia working breakfast hosted by Greece and the Romanian Presidency of Council of EU

JOURNALIST: What is the message of this very successful, with great participation, working breakfast, Minister?

G. KATROUGALOS: There was great participation on the part of numerous Ministers. We wished to get the message across that Greece supports the European perspective of all Western Balkan countries, but this is a process which is evaluated according to the progress made by each country. North Macedonia has shown that it wishes to be open to European perspectives, exhibiting political courage by promoting the Prespa Agreement, as well as significant domestic reforms.

Therefore, we wished to send the message that when a country tries to align itself with the European acquis, we Europeans must also respond in the same way and open up the European path to this country.

JOURNALIST: Are you pleased with the progress of the Prespa Agreement?

G. KATROUGALOS: Both sides wish to implement the letter and the spirit of the Agreement. Sometimes, derogations from its implementation arise, but the positive thing is that each time we indicate this to the other side, the problem that has arisen is corrected immediately. Therefore, I believe that we must generally be pleased by its implementation to date.