Skopje, 20 September 2021 (MIA) – Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Nikola Dimitrov met Monday with Michela Matuella, Acting Director for the Western Balkans at the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, who recently took office. Talks focused on North Macedonia’s preparedness and expectations regarding the opening of EU accession negotiations, implementation of EU-related reforms and the status in terms of use of IPA funds, the Secretariat for European Affairs said in a press release. North Macedonia, said Dimitrov, remains strongly committed to the reform implementation process in key areas of the new methodology for negotiations, backed by EU funds. “There’s no alternative to the Europeanisation process aimed at adopting European values at home, which is why we introduced the Europe at Home Agenda and adopted the NPAA 2021-2025. These processes were fully transparent with the civil society being involved and the key documents are fully restructured according to the new methodology of clusters for the accession negotiations,” he said. European Commission official Matuella said the results achieved will be reflected in the Commission’s 2021 report, stressing she agreed that North Macedonia was prepared to start negotiating with the EU. Also, she added that the European Commission would continue to support the country in its EU integration process, said the press release.