Wednesday, 16 March 2011
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTED THE DRAFT-RESOLUTION ON THE PROGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, with 49 votes “for“, 7 “against“ and 3 “abstained“, adopted the Draft-resolution on the Progress of the Republic of Macedonia, drafted by the Slovenian MEP, Mr. Zoran Thaler.
14 compromise amendments were drafted and additional 50 of the total of 152 ware adopted.
The key recommendation in the Resolution is the Republic of Macedonia to open the accession negotiations with the European Union.
Our aim is the Republic of Macedonia to join EU in near future, that is why, the European Parliament recommends opening of the negotiations immediately, which was affirmed and requested from the European Union, stated Mr. Thaler.
The Resolution also calls upon the High Representative of EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ms. Catherine Ashton and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Mr. Stefan Fule, to be actively engaged in finding a solution for the name issue with Greece.
One of the compromising amendments insists that both sides should solve the bilateral issues in the spirit of good neighbourly relations, considering the common interest of EU.
The final text of the document will be published by the Service of the European Parliament, once the results from today’s voting are being verified.
After the voting in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Resolution on the Republic of Macedonia will be reviewed on a plenary session of the European Parliament, scheduled in April, in Strasbourg.