Skopje, 10 May 2023 (MIA) - Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, who is paying a visit to Ireland on Wednesday, met with Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin, in Dublin.

During the meeting, Osmani thanked for the continuous and strong support that Ireland gives to our country in its efforts to join the EU as soon as possible, which dates back to the very beginnings of our European integration path, when, during the Irish EU Presidency in 2004, we submitted our application for EU membership, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.

“We set 2030 as our target to become an EU member, and we are investing all resources in the country and society for its implementation. We want to repeat Ireland’s successful EU story and achieve prosperity and the level of democracy, for which European integration is our strongest impulse,” Osmani said.

Osmani also referred to the need to short-term visible and tangible benefits on the way to full EU membership, which will allow citizens to feel the approximation in an economic-social sense, and at the same time will bring greater credibility in relation to the accession process.

In his capacity as OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Osmani introduced his interlocutor with the current events regarding North Macedonia’s OSCE Cahrimanship, the implemented and future planned activities through the prism of the established priorities, as well as the current challenges facing the OSCE.

While in Dublin, FM Osmani also met with ‌Peter Burke, Minister of State for European Affairs and discussed North Macedonia’s EU dossier and ongoing accession negotiations.

Osmani briefed on the North Macedonia’s progress, the screening process that has started and the high level of readiness of the institutional capacities for its successful implementation, underlining the government’s commitment to finalize the constitutional amendments by the end of this year, as our undertaken obligation, with the aim of opening the first cluster on fundamentals and more dynamic accession process.

Minister Osmani reaffirmed the state's position as a responsible and reliable partner of the EU and NATO, fully complying with EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy, with significant support for Ukraine.

According to Osmani, North Macedonia is a test of the EU's credibility in the Balkans. In response to a question from Irish MPs, Osmani said that the fact that North Macedonia waited too long and unfairly to open EU accession talks and the unfair conditions that were set, strongly influence the motivation of other countries in the region to implement the EU-related reforms.

What will happen to North Macedonia, he pointed out, will certainly affect the decision of others to continue further in the process. He mentioned that North Macedonia and Albania together opened EU accession talks, so one of the risks is that if there is no progress in one country that dissatisfaction will spill over into the other, reads the press release.

Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs