Bytyqi-Gentiloni: North Macedonia is of strategic importance for EU, part of Europe's energy transition plan
Skopje, 28 February 2023 (MIA) - Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Fatmir Bytyqi met in Brussels with the EU Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni.
Deputy PM Bytyqi is visiting Brussels from Feb. 27 until March 1, where he will address the two bilateral screening meetings under Cluster 2 on Internal Market, the meeting for Chapter 9 - Financial Services and Chapter 28 - Consumer Protection and Public Health.
During the meeting, Bytyqi and Gentiloni agreed that the European Commission is considered a strong partner of North Macedonia in its efforts to join the EU, the government said in a press release.
Deputy PM Bytyqi expressed gratitude for the macro-financial support, as well as for the EU support related to overcoming the current energy crisis.
EU Commissioner Gentiloni underscored that the entire Western Balkans is of strategic importance to the EU and that the entire region is part of Europe's energy transition plan (REPowerEU), which aims to diversify energy sources and increase capacity from renewable energy sources.
Gentiloni also noted that the EC welcomes the adoption of the new organic budget law, as a major reform step for North Macedonia, reads the press release.
Commissioner Gentiloni also gave a brief overview of the current situation in the EU, where according to the latest winter economic forecasts in 2023, a recession will likely be avoided, as well as the expectation that inflationary pressure will slowly decrease.
Deputy PM Bytyqi underlined the great importance of the just energy transition and thanked for the support that North Macedonia has in this segment through a project of the EU Delegation in Skopje.
“Bytyqi referred to the Macedonian economy, which is the highest export exposure to the EU and which in 2022 recorded a high rate of inflation mainly due to the increased prices of energy, GDP growth within the projections of just under 3 percent and that for 2023 the expectations are real growth to be 2.9 percent, which is in line with the latest IMF and World Bank projections,” reads the press release.
Deputy PM Bytyqi also said that North Macedonia, with the EU help, during 2022 with the increase of the capacity of the interconnector with Bulgaria, finally got rid of 100 percent dependence on gas supply from Gazprom and now there is an opportunity for other gas suppliers to appear on the market in North Macedonia.
Bytyqi said that following the example of the EU, where major challenges (energy diversification) are solved jointly through cooperation, the region of the Western Balkans should also undertake jointly coordinated measures, creating mutual dependence as opposed to dependence from outside in order to be able to more quickly and easily overcome crises” the government said in a press release.
EU Commissioner Gentiloni agreed that the key is cooperation and that this meeting is happening just in time to be able to redefine the supply chains through coordinated measures, by bringing them closer to the EU countries, and this is certainly a huge potential for the Western Balkan countries.
The Western Balkans remains a strategic partner of the EU and the process of bringing production from the Far East will certainly contribute to a large number of companies transferring their production to the countries of the Western Balkans, reads the press release.
Photo: Sector for Public Relations - General Secretariat
