Skopje, 1 November 2022 (MIA) – The European Union needs North Macedonia, and it needs all of the Western Balkans to be a part of the European Union, said Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski in an interview with BBC’s HARDtalk. “After the new geostrategic situation which we have in Europe and after the invasion of Russia on Ukraine and after all the security, energy and economic issues which are at stake in Europe, it is clear and it has been confirmed by all the leaders of the European Union, starting from President Macron, Chancellor Scholz, President of the European Commission Von der Leyen, that the European Union is not complete without the Western Balkans, without North Macedonia, without Albania, Montenegro and all the other countries, and this is the reality," said Kovachevski. North Macedonia, according to the PM, has made probably the toughest and hardest decision compared to any other country which has joined or will join the EU. “Let’s not forget that during these seventeen years we could not progress on our path to the EU because of regional and bilateral issues. In the Balkans, there are many, I call them, identity issues. If you take a look at Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the whole region, what has happened throughout the past thirty years, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, even what is currently happening in Ukraine, is also an identity issue. North Macedonia has proven that through diplomacy there can be sustainable solutions for identity issues. We have made tough decisions, you are right, we have changed the name of the country in order to become NATO members and to progress on our path to EU integration. We have also signed an agreement with our neighbors, Bulgaria, and this decision was also a tough decision,” PM Kovachevski said. In the interview, the PM stated that North Macedonia has begun a lot of infrastructural projects in order to diversify its energy supply, especially in terms of gas, by building new interconnectors and pipelines going from south to north, and not from east to west as is the case right now. “There are countries which are fully dependent on Russian gas, there are countries which are less dependent on Russian gas and there are countries which are not dependent. We are in the group of countries which are fully dependent on Russian gas and this has been historically the case, because of the state of the economy, relations of the past and so on. During this crisis there is an opportunity for changes and improvement, which is why we have begun a lot of infrastructural projects in order to disperse and diversify our energy supply,” said Prime Minister Kovachevski. ad/nn/