It was a great pleasure to welcome Mr Nikola Dimitrov, the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration of North Macedonia and Chief Negotiator for North Macedonia’s accession to the European Union.
Mr Dimitrov and I agreed that cooperation between Greece and North Macedonia in order to assist the accession process must be scaled up in the coming period. This means that the committees set forth in the Prespa Agreement must convene immediately in order to create a foundation to build on and, of course, to resolve pending matters.
At the same time, we will submit the agreement for the provision of technical assistance to North Macedonia in its accession process to Parliament for ratification, and we will then head two large delegations, in mid to late autumn, in Skopje in order to send precisely this message — that the accession process did not stop but actually began in Zagreb during the March Summit, and that we are willing to help.
Greece stands to benefit from North Macedonia's accession to the European Union and has much to contribute to this process. Its approach to this process is characterised by good faith, a spirit of cooperation, aiming — as always — at the proper implementation of the Prespa Agreement, but, above all else, at the development of bilateral economic and political relations, in order to truly see our neighbourhood flourish. Our country's strategic goal has always been to border European Union Member States, and we will achieve this goal by assisting the process of North Macedonia's accession to the European Union.
September 16, 2020