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EC makes 2nd conditional recommendation in a row for opening EU talks with Macedonia

Xinhua, November 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Commission on Wednesday recommended the second conditional opening of EU accession talks with Macedonia, making it the eighth consecutive time the country has been recommended for opening negotiations with the bloc, local media here reported.

The condition for this recommendation is the realization of credible elections on Dec. 11 and the implementation of urgent reform priorities, EU Commissioner for European neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations Johannes Hahn said in his address in the European Parliament.

On the other hand, after the publication of the report by the Commissioner, the EU ambassador to Skopje, Samuel Zbogar, had a press conference here declaring that the government that would be set up after the Dec. 11 elections should take advantage of and use this report to turn the conditional recommendation into an unconditional one.

He also said that Macedonia's political crisis had taken too much time while he called on state institutions to restore their credibility.

The EU is ready to grant support for transforming Macedonia into what it deserves to be: a democratic, dynamic and prosperous country, capable of offering stability and better prospects to its citizens, said Zbogar.

In terms of the political criteria, the EC report stated that Macedonia was faced with the continuation of the most severe political crisis since 2001 and that democracy and rule of law had been constantly challenged, in particular due to state capture affecting the functioning of democratic institutions and key areas of society.

As regards the fight against corruption and organized crime, the EC said in its report that Macedonia had seen some level of preparation although corruption remained prevalent in many areas while law enforcement capacity to investigate financial crimes and confiscate assets needed to be further developed.

The report also cited that more concrete efforts were needed to ensure the respect of human rights of vulnerable groups, including refugees and migrants. Endit