During the meeting, Minister Jacek Czaputowicz underlined Poland’s commitment to integrating North Macedonia and the whole Western Balkans region with Europe. This year it has been particularly manifest in Poland’s presidency of the Berlin Process and its Western Balkans Summit in Poznan. The minister pointed out that Poland shows its support for North Macedonia at a number of EU fora. It also translates into concrete projects. Poland co-finances the construction of infrastructure in the region through its contributions to the Economic Resilience Initiative (ERI) of the European Investment Bank and to the Western Balkans Investment Framework.

In the light of the forthcoming completion of the process to ratify the protocol of North Macedonia’s accession to NATO, Minister Czaputowicz expressed his hope for a very good cooperation between Poland and North Macedonia in the Alliance, which could be significantly complemented by the cooperation of defence industries. “I am convinced that Skopje will maintain the momentum of the reforms in order to ensure a smooth integration and become a reliable member bringing in a real added value to the security of the Alliance,” said the minister.

Deputy Prime Minister Osmani met also with Secretary of State for European Affairs Konrad Szymański. “Poland supports the opening of EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia this October and will actively support the country on its road to membership,” stressed Deputy Minister Szymański. He also pointed out that Poland has been constantly and actively sharing its own experience of transition and accession talks, as evidenced by the plans to organise the next, now eighth, edition of the Skopje Conference in Warsaw later this year. Modelled on the Utrecht Conference, the Skopje Conference is a cyclical bilateral consultation forum aimed at sharing Poland’s pre-accession experience with partners from the government institutions in North Macedonia. “Its internal changes to date and increasingly better relations with the neighbours mean that North Macedonia deserves to move to the next step on the road to EU membership,” said Deputy Minister Szymański. He went on to add that particular credit is due to the current government of North Macedonia for the historic agreement with Greece on the country name, a deal without which the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia would not find its way to the EU’s agenda. At the same time, Deputy Minister Szymański pointed out that in spite of the major achievements further reforms are needed, particularly in the area of the rule of law.

Deputy Prime Minister Osmani’s visit to Warsaw is part of a campaign mounted by the Macedonian government in EU countries and institutions ahead of a General Affairs Council meeting in October, which is expected to decide on whether to open accession negotiations with the country.

 

MFA Press Office

Photo: Tymon Markowski / MFA