Thursday, April 26, 2007

Rehn hails political dialogue in Macedonia

The European Commission welcomed the intensified dialogue in Macedonia today in Brussels, noting, however, that concrete results are expected.

"I encourage all parties to put efforts into finding compromises and to 'walk the last mile' in order for the dialogue, which intensified over the last couple of days, to produce concrete results", EU Enlargement Commissioner Ollie Rehn said after the meeting with the Macedonian Vice-Prime Minister Gabriela Konevska-Trajkovska.

Macedonian governmental delegation kicked off a two-day visit to Brussels on Monday, for meetings with representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament.

According to Rehn, such a political dialogue "will facilitate more rapid adoption of laws related to reforms, as well as the implementation of the reforms in judiciary, police and the public administration".

As regards the replacements in the Macedonian Secretariat for European Issues, the EU Commissioner said that these events won't affect Macedonia-EC relations, as "the Secretariat is the main interlocutor of the Commission".

According to Konevska-Trajkovska, the changes took place because of "violation of certain regulations" in promotion of some employees of the Secretariat.

"The current structure is not the best possible solution in terms of satisfying the needs and meeting the main challenges the Ministry is facing", Macedonian Vice-Prime Minister said at a press conference.

Earlier today, the Macedonian delegation met with Doris Pack, Member of the European Parliament and member of the South East Europe Committee.

The meeting focused on the Brussels's activities in realization of the reforms in the region, as well as the progress of the Macedonian reform agenda.

According to the announcements, Konevska-Trajkovska will hold talks on Tuesday with the Deputy President of the European Commission, Franko Frattini, and with the Director of Financial Instruments Directorate, Dirk Meganck.

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