Solana urges for political dialogue in Macedonia

The European Commission will come clear on the start date of negotiations with Macedonia in the next regular report scheduled for the end of 2007.

The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said this during the meeting with the Macedonian President, Branko Crvenkovski, today in Brussels.

"...There is no dilemma - the European Union will continue the enlargement process. Macedonia's inclusion will depend solely on the progress of the country. In this sense, the EC's report due to be announced by the year-end will address the date of negotiations also", Barroso said.

"President Barroso voiced discontent with the level of political dialogue in the country, noting that better political communication is necessary in order to step up the national unity and strengthen the position of the Republic of Macedonia in terms of acquiring the date of negotiations", Crvenkovski's Cabinet announced.

"The European Commission expects from Macedonia to demonstrate significant improvement in reforms implementation in the areas spanning judiciary, police and battle against corruption. Public administration's capacity strengthening was also one of the topics of discussions, during which the interlocutors shared the opinion that politically motivated replacements in this field slowed down the process", the announcement says.