Verslag van ontmoeting EU-commissaris Füle met voorzitter Macedonische Sociaal Democratische Unie (en)

European Commission

MEMO

Brussels, 07 January 2014

Meeting with leader of the Macedonian opposition Zoran Zaev

Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle met with President of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) Zoran Zaev in Brussels today. It was the first official meeting between the Commissioner and the leader of the main opposition party in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

They discussed the accession process and Commissioner Füle reaffirmed the EU perspective of the country. He also underlined the need to improve the political discourse in the country and the importance of a national consensus on the common goal of EU integration. "As the 1 March political agreement is being implemented, the Commission will stand ready to support the reform process through the High Level Accession Dialogue provided the authorities remain committed to the reforms implementation and to continued improvement in good neighbourly relations," he said.

Commissioner Füle and Mr Zaev also talked about the most urgent reforms in the country, in particular in the area of rule of law and freedom of media, as well as about the work of the working groups on electoral legislation. In this context they stressed the importance of fair conditions for political competition.