The President of the Republic of Macedonia Dr. Gjorge Ivanov met today the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.

The themes discussed during the meeting were related to the recent political situation in Republic of Macedonia, the European perspectives of the country, as well as the latest developments in the process of overcoming the differences regarding the name of the country with our southern neighbor.

President Ivanov saluted the commitment of the EC and their partnership in the country’s approximation toward the European standards and the processes which lead to accomplishment of the of Republic of Macedonia’s ultimate strategic goal – full membership in the EU.

EC President Barroso underlined his high estimation for President Ivanov’s engagement and support to the efforts for reaching consensus over Macedonia’s key strategic priorities.

During the meeting Barroso and Ivanov exchanged their views on the recent developments regarding the efforts for overcoming the differences over the name issue with Greece – being the only obstacle for continuation of integration processes.

President Ivanov informed EC President Barroso for his activities on the political scene, highlighting that Republic of Macedonia has reached a stadium of democratic development where the political dialogue should be conducted in the frames of the democratic institutions, that the conveyance of the dialogue out of the institutions is far from helpful and it’s not contributing to strengthening of the democratic capacity of the institutions, in accordance with European standards. 

EC President Barroso highly values the role of President Ivanov in developing strong regional partnerships, greeting the upcoming meeting of the president of Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo to be held in July in Ohrid. He expressed his satisfaction that the agenda of this meeting envisages cooperation on concrete infrastructural projects which the European Commission is ready to review and support.