Kristian Vigenin took part in the meeting of the EU, North Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee in Skopje

A meeting of the EU, North Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was held in Skopje. The main task of the meeting was to assess the progress of the Republic of North Macedonia towards opening accession negotiations with the EU, and among the leading topics were fundamental rights and freedom of speech, the rule of law and the fight against corruption, good neighbourly relations, and regional development and stability. The members of the committee, who represent the European and the Macedonian parliament on an equal basis, also discussed the media and civil society, environmental protection, transport and infrastructure connectivity, and the development of artificial intelligence.

The representatives of the European Parliament, among them the Bulgarian MEPs Kristian Vigenin and Ivaylo Valchev, held a series of bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, with the President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia Afrim Gashi, with representatives of all parliamentary groups, and with the head of the EU Delegation in Skopje Michalis Rokas. The members also held a hearing with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Timco Mucunski and the Minister for European Affairs Orhan Murtezani.

North Macedonia’s commitments

In all the meetings, and in the conclusions of the JPC, the need was stressed for North Macedonia to fulfil the commitments agreed and undertaken in July 2022 in order to begin the substantive part of the membership negotiation process, namely the changes to the country’s constitution, and to implement in good faith the bilateral cooperation treaties with Bulgaria and Greece of 2017 and 2018. The need to speed up work on connecting infrastructure with neighbouring countries was also stressed, such as the construction of Corridor VIII, which will substantially improve the transport links between Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

In a conversation with Kristian Vigenin, the chair of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia Oliver Spasovski accepted the proposal to resume the dialogue with the BSP and the parliamentary group of the BSP, UNITED LEFT on the issues that matter to the citizens of the two countries.