Skopje, 5 October 2023 (MIA) - North Macedonia has gone very far in the process and it must make the final step for sooner EU membership, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Macedonian counterpart Dimitar Kovachevski at a meeting held on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Granada on Thursday.

Rutte thanked Kovachevski for the country's alignment with the EU common foreign and security policy, its support provided to Ukraine, as well as the strict approach in the application of the visa policy, the Government said in a press release.

Discussions tackled the support provided by the Netherlands, which is among North Macedonia's largest bilateral donors, continually assisting reforms in many fields - human rights, democracy, rule of law, judiciary and public administration reforms, protection of marginalized groups in society.

Kovachevski thanked the Netherlands for its commitment in building independent institutions, which are the pillars of every European democracy.

Interlocutors agreed that Netherlands' objective approach in evaluating accession criteria is an incentive for more results, reaffirming the Government's commitment to the reform agenda and sooner EU membership, reads the press release.

Photo: Government