Macedonia appealed once again that the name issue with Greece be not set as a condition for its integration into NATO and the EU and that as a bilateral problem be resolved through talks.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki had a fringe meeting with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and told him the Macedonian position to the name issue.

“Macedonia’s position is that bilateral issues should not be imported into the EU. However, this principle should apply to all countries. This is not part of the Copenhagen criteria,” Minister Milososki said before meeting Foreign Minister and Deputy Chancellor Westerwelle.

In his view, the membership of the EU should be used a motivating factor in closing the bilateral problems through a negotiating process.

Macedonia is aware, Milososki says, that there is reserve in the EU as regards the enlargement of the Union and that some member states still do not know what will happen to the enlargement process upon the admission of Croatia, yet he will still appeal that the enlargement depends on the meeting of the agenda and criteria. At the same time, he will continue pointing out that the enlargement has significance not only for Macedonia, but for the whole region.

Minister Milososki also said that with Minister Westerwelle he would discuss the reform of the chairmanship of the Council of Europe, considering that a period of six months is not enough for, as he said, “political visibility of the Council of Europe”.

There are three proposals about the model of chairing to replace the present six months: 8-month chairmanship by alphabetical order, the model of the OSCE with one-year chairmanship for which the member states would apply and a 6-month chairmanship with a presidential trio made up of the previous, current and future chairing country. For now there is consent that the present model of chairmanship should be revised. However, the member states are yet to decide on the model.

Minister Milososki addressed Monday the Council of Europe speaking of the activities of Macedonia’s Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. As the most serious undertaking, he underscored the visit to Georgia and the securing of consensus at the Committee of Ministers for monitoring in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

At the regular session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the issue of the Roma people in the aftermath of everything that happened in France is on the agenda for debate too. The deportation of the Roma people from France, according to Milososki, is only the top of the iceberg. In his view, the situation has escalated and the issue of the Roma people has become a European issue. He said that he would point out the Macedonian example as “an inclusive model for the Roma population” and would call for turning words into actions in the Decade of the Roma People. In his view, greater social care, education and assistance in taking out identification documents for the Roma people is indispensable. He also appealed for leadership in Europe in vanquishing the prejudice against the Roma people.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, the highest-ranking guest together with Minister Westerwelle, is expected to address the Council of Europe on Thursday.