Skopje, 4 July 2022 (MIA) - Talks and consultations over the French proposal for the opening of EU negotiations will continue at several levels, said Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj on Monday. Participating in a briefing with news editors, he revealed European Council President Charles Michel will travel to Skopje on Tuesday in an official visit. "The phase of consultations is ongoing. We're hard at reviewing the proposal before making an adequate decision in the coming days. The government at a session will decide what to do next and in what form. We're not bound by a deadline, although publicly I've been accused of forcing it too much to hurry. We've been waiting for 17 years. Since we have a proposal that takes into consideration all of our remarks, I believe that it is a package worth considering seriously," Marichikj said. Asked when and how the process will start, the Deputy PM explained that negotiations are opened at the first intergovernmental conference where a negotiating framework is adopted, and an opening statement is read on the opening of negotiations by the two sides and a decision is made on the start of the screening process. The screening is an initial phase of the negotiations, Marichikj said. During this stage, he added, together with the European Commission and the EU member states we should scan through our legislation, how far it is aligned together with our practices. "Based on this screening, reports are made that pave the way on how the chapters and the clusters are opened and closed. This proposal offers us what we believe belongs to us, which is start of negotiations in this initial phase," Marichikj said.