Skopje, 15 May 2025 (MIA) - The visit of European Council President Antonio Costa is welcome because it sends a message that the region, especially North Macedonia, is part of the agenda. All the messages that have come until now, and hopefully will continue to come in the future, are that we must make steps towards implementing what was unfortunately undertaken as a commitment in 2020 so that we can catch up with the enlargement process, which has gained speed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I not only believe in this, but see it as well, says Minister of European Affairs Orhan Murtezani.

Minister Murtezani told Kanal 5 that the negotiating process is not linked solely to the Bulgarian veto, but is much more complex.

"The number of protocols with Bulgaria is not locked, we want to make things right through dialogue. Our goal is to be technically ready by the end of June for the opening of the negotiations," says Murtezani.

He adds that the EU's attention on the Western Balkans is rising.

"The better we prepare now, the faster we move later. We have formally received all five screening reports, only the one on Cluster 5 is left. We are already reviewing the reports and discussing the findings. We will reactivate the entire system shortly and delegate the tasks to the institutions so they can work on them," notes Murtezani.

According to him, Macedonia is better prepared than Albania for the EU accession, but Tirana has already started the negotiations, showing that "the enlargement process is not only alive, but dynamic as well."

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