Delaying the start of negotiations with North Macedonia is a dishonest step by the EU, because the country has done everything necessary to open the negotiation process, said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijarto in joint conference with Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani.

“Hungary demands that negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania start immediately,” he added.

“We were unhappy and frustrated with the conclusions in Brussels on enlargement and we consider all those decisions to be very unfair. If we want to be honest, we would have to say that this year North Macedonia and Albania should start negotiations. We respectfully ask our friends from Bulgaria to implement their national issues that they consider an obstacle during the negotiations, while not hindering the start of negotiations,” Szijarto underlined.

“The geographical position of the Western Balkans seems to make it increasingly difficult to understand the processes taking place in the region, and we have a feeling that EU policy towards the Western Balkans is becoming increasingly inefficient,” he said.

“The EU is now facing historic challenges and therefore we would need a positive success and we believe that enlargement would mean success for the EU and therefore Hungary will do everything possible to start as soon as possible the enlargement with the Western Balkans “, added Szijarto.

“We remain committed to the European Union integration process, which is in our strategic interest and I can assure you that we continue to work with our neighbors at an uninterrupted pace,” Osmani said.

“Bulgaria is a member of the European Union. We expect the new government in Sofia to show European empathy, partnership and care for its neighbors. We are already NATO allies and our NATO friends, like Hungary, expect us to show that we are mature enough to overcome our differences and thus contribute to strengthening common security and stability,” at the press conference with the Hungarian Minister, Szijarto.

/Klara Ruci/