Skopje, 5 June 2023 (MIA) - Spain supports North Macedonia’s EU enlargement process and integration and believes that the country has an opportunity that it should seize it. We have been in your place and know how hard it is when you are not part of the club, participants in the Bilateral Think-Tank Forum between North Macedonia and Spain said on Monday.

The first Bilateral Forum entitled “Thinking and Working Together” is taking place in Skopje, organised by the Prespa Institute and Royal Elcano Institute in Madrid.

Spain’s Ambassador to North Macedonia, José Luis Lozano García, addressing the event, said that the Spanish Government has shown support to North Macedonia’s EU integration process and that the country has a moment that it should seize to achieve its goal.

“We are in a very specific moment, in a very important strategic situation where sovereignty is concerned. This is an opportunity to use the moment for the accession process of North Macedonia to the EU. We must use the moment important for the accession of North Macedonia. And I really support it,” Ambassador Lozano García said at the forum, which is being held less than a month before Spain takes over the EU Presidency starting on July 1.

Director of the Royal Elcano Institute Charles Powell is confident that Spain’s upcoming European Union presidency will not be affected by early general elections on July 30.

“I have no doubt that this will be greatly productive and fruitful presidency, as have been the previous four. Due to experience with our civil service and support from the Spanish civil society, I think that Spain is the most enthusiastic and pro-EU country among all the members, and regarding the issue of enlargement, there is no doubt that it will be successful. Although these early elections are a small obstacle, I still think everything will go well,” Powell said.

Spain has always been in favour of EU enlargement, and according to Powell, this is because Madrid joined the Union quite late because it lived under an authoritarian regime.

“Also, Spain’s path to EU membership was not an easy one. It requested accession in 1977 and became an EU member country in 1986. Therefore, it was a long process and I would like to emphasize that the Spanish society and the Spanish authorities fully support your European aspirations because we have been in your place. We know how difficult it is when you are not part of the club, we know how difficult it is to be sometimes forced to adopt certain reforms that may be painful to you, because we all had to adopt them at some point for our own benefit and not just to we achieve the goal of EU membership. Spanish society, including civil society, will continue to support you,” Powell noted.

“Bearing in mind the cohesion and unity of the EU, it will be one of the priorities of the Spanish EU Presidency,” Powell underlined.

Ignacio Molina, senior analyst at the Royal Elcano Institute, referring to Madrid's relations with North Macedonia and the region, emphasized that one should be self-critical that they are of a low profile, but that in recent years they have been intensifying and that its involvement must be strengthened in the region considering its desire to be a strong player as the fourth most powerful EU member state.

“The political relations with North Macedonia in the last two years have been exceptional, very positive. Spain supports North Macedonia’s EU candidate status. Although it may sometimes seem that that support is more rhetorical than real, it should be taken into account that it has to do with the fact that if there is no more presence of businesses, of officials, it is difficult to see the degree of support of Spain, but Spain is one of the countries that will push for your EU membership,” Molina said.

Photo: MIA