The name issue is an unnecessary problem in the midst of Europe, said the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mevlut Cavasoglu. He says it is unacceptable for countries and nations to be blocked due to unnecessary problems and that a solution has to be found as soon as possible. He made this statement after meeting Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

Cavusoglu stressed that in spite of the “serious problems with Turkey” in the course of the talks, certain chapters were opened, others were put aside, and yet the negotiations carried on.

“This may happen to Macedonia’s bid for membership too. The talks should begin and I hope the name issue will also be resolved in near future. As regards the European integration, we have no time to waste,” Cavusoglu said.

After meeting Prime Minister Gruevski in Strasbourg, he said that Macedonia should start EU accession talks and work on resolving the name issue in parallel with the negotiating process the way Croatia and Turkey did.

At the end of his address in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Prime Minister Gruevski said that every support from the Council of Europe was welcome even though the problem was resolved under UN auspices.

In his address in Strasbourg, Gruevski talked also about the importance and priorities of the Macedonian Chairmanship, encouraging the other member states of the Council of Europe to take Macedonia’s example and to ratify the Framework Convention for the Protection of Human Rights without delays unless they had already done so.

According to Gruevski, Macedonia’s membership of the EU and NATO is top priority of the Macedonian foreign policy supported by over 80 percent of the Macedonian citizens. He reiterated on this occasion that although the country met all required criteria and was given a recommendation for opening membership negotiations, the Council of the EU did not accept the Commission’s recommendation due to the Greek objection, whereby Macedonia’s headway was obstructed again. He emphasized that in Macedonia there was firm commitment to overcoming this dispute by the principles underlying the Council of Europe.

While in Strasbourg, Prime Minister Gruevski also met with the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, and the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Jean-Paul Costa.