Brussels, 21 March 2022 (MIA) – Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani addressed Monday the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), receiving unequivocal support for an immediate start of the EU accession negotiations, MIA reports from Brussels. FM Osmani told Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) that North Macedonia has been in the waiting room for a long time, while aligning with the required reforms and providing its staunch support to the Russia sanctions due to the attack on Ukraine. He also issued a caution that a new delay in the accession talks would not only affect EU’s credibility in the country and the region but also have consequences on the security situation in a time when Russia is attempting to interfere and influence domestic developments in EU allies, noting that Moscow had attempted to interfere once before, at the time around the Prespa Agreement, by producing series of fake news. “Our European aspirations must finally be seriously taken into account. North Macedonia, considering its civilian and political wisdom, avoided all ex-Yugoslavia wars and showed back in 2001 that it knows how to create peace, coexistence, respect human rights and minority rights. And we do not intend to stop in our fight for democratic values,” Osmani told MEPs. He also shared results from the latest public surveys that show a drop in the people’s EU enthusiasm. “These numbers of worrisome and the EU has a big responsibility to restore trust,” said Dutch MEP Tineke Strik of the Greens. All members urged for an immediate green light to North Macedonia and Albania EU accession talks, with some addressing the member-state blocking the talks due to bilateral issues. Strik called on the Bulgarian government to immediately approve the start of the talks, whereas AFET chair David McAllister addressed Sofia without naming it. “Time has finally come to open the accession talks with the country that has waited for so many years. We have been giving promise after promise and now we call on our dear member-state to finally give the green light,” said McAllister. Bulgarian MEPs demonstrated a rather constructive approach compared to prior meetings. MEP Elena Yoncheva of the Bulgarian Socialist Party asked FM Osmani is Bulgarians would be incorporated in the Constitution, with the latter refraining from a direct response and saying it was time that both countries turned towards the future. “We need a common future in the region amid these unpredictable times. The Russian invasion concerns both Bulgaria and North Macedonia and that is why we should join forces and consolidate the region,” Osmani told MEP Alexander Yordanov, who asked why would bilateral problems be easily solved once accession negotiations started if they could not be solved at this point. The FM said that if talks failed to begin in the coming weeks, it would be detrimental to the political enthusiasm and North Macedonia’s EU efforts. “Therefore, we need a solution in the coming weeks, during the French Presidency, now more than ever, because enlargement is primarily a security issue for the region and the continent, not only one of credibility,” said Osmani.