VIENNA -- Northern Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski warns that if accession negotiations are further delayed, European Union will lose its credibility
"We even changed the name of the country for the sake of EU negotiations"
VIENNA -- Northern Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski warns that if accession negotiations are further delayed, European Union will lose its credibility
Source: Tanjug
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Ilustracija: EPA-EFE/Georgi Licovski
Pendarovski said in an interview for the Vienna-based daily newspaper "Die Presse" that his country had changed its name to obtain accession negotiations.
"So far, no candidate country has done so", he said.
If the accession negotiations are delayed further, the EU will lose its credibility and, as Pendarovski says, Euro-enthusiasm will be drastically reduced.
"Citizens have asked us why we need to change the name of our country. We told them - so that we could join the EU. We have fulfilled everything. Now citizens are asking why the delay is still in effect", Pendarovski said.
He said he also expects Northern Macedonia to join NATO in the coming months.
Speaking about migrants, Pendarovski said that no increase in the number of migrants from Turkey had been observed in this Balkan country.
"So far, we haven't noticed a significant increase in the number of migrants", he noted.
He said that there is always a chance that refugees from Greece will try to use the route via Northern Macedonia, in order to reach northern EU countries.
However, as he explains, the current circumstances cannot be compared in any aspect with 2015 and 2016, when a million people passed through Northern Macedonia.
