Brussels, 05/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - The president of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Gjorge Ivanov, said during his visit to Brussels on 4-5 September that his country's objective is “to obtain a date for the start of accession negotiations with the EU before the end of 2012”, in spite of the conflict with Greece on its name which is blocking FYROM's progress towards the EU. He said that the blocking policy is not bringing positive results to the region, and called on President Herman Van Rompuy to personally become involved in the process in order to accelerate the process and so that Skopje might “obtain what it deserves”. He said he wanted a solution on the name to be found for this bilateral problem, as was the case for the conflict between Slovenia and Croatia. He hoped than a model of conflict resolution could be found and that Macedonia could, “after so many years”, begin accession negotiations, as the country has had the status of candidate since 2005.
The European commissioner for enlargement, Stefan Füle, recalled his “full support” for the bilateral meetings and exchanges under the auspices of the United Nations to find a solution to the conflict on the name between FYROM and Greece. He said that FYROM's accession would strengthen the EU and would bring concrete benefits to all Macedonians. He also called for the continuation of reforms. (CG/transl.fl)