While supporting Macedonia to get a date for start of membership talks at the EU summit on Dec. 7, Finland will pledge other EU countries to do the same, stated Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen after meeting Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski Thursday in Helsinki.
- Finland is following the European Commission (EC) recommendation and is strongly supporting start of accession talks. I hope negotiations will be approved, because Macedonia has been a candidate country for a long time. I believe the time has come for this to be changed and on Dec. 7 the Council of Ministers to reach a decision on start of negotiations, however it doesn't depend solely on us. As I told the PM, the decision is reached unanimously, Vanhanen said.
Asked about Greece's conditioning of the start of negotiations with prompt name dispute settlement and about his suggestion to the Macedonian and Greek premiers, Vanhanen urged that the positive moment following the EC recommendation should be used in order both countries to reach a compromise, MIA reports.
- I'm emphasising to both premiers that now is the right moment for a compromise to be reached and I hope they will use it. This is the moment when an agreement can be reached, especially on sensitive issues such as the name row. I believe both sides will take advantage of the days leading to Dec. 7 to close this "historic issue". I have told this to PM Gruevski and Finland will try and influence Greece as well, stated the Finnish PM.
According to him, only Greece and Macedonia could reach a compromise, while others could only encourage them to find a compromise, which "means that both sides should demonstrate more flexibility".
PM Gruevski verified that Macedonia and the EU summit could count on Finland's support. - After EC's recommendation, the next logical step is the obtainment of a date for negotiations, he added.
- On Oct. 14 Macedonia received positive EC report and recommendation for start of accession talks. Now, we're expecting a date for their launch, which will pave the way towards full-fledged membership, Gruevski stated.
When asked what if Macedonia failed to secure a date and whether it had a backup plan, Gruevski responded: - We hope and we fight till the last minute. If Macedonia fails to obtain a date, then the country will keep making efforts to get a date for talks and it will resume implementing necessary reforms.
Both PMs at their meeting in Helsinki concluded that bilateral political and economic relations were good, without any open issues. Gruevski informed Vanhanen on reforms implemented considering Macedonia's EU integration and the Finnish PM congratulated him on the annulment of the visa regime for the people of Macedonia.
The Macedonian PM also met today with Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and Parliament Speaker Sauli Niinistö. In the course of his stay in Helsinki, Gruevski met with representatives of 40 Finnish companies of the IT sector, wood industry, tourism to present Macedonia's investment potential and visited the headquarters of Finland's most famous business brand - Nokia.
Source:mrt.com.mk/
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