With 49 votes in favor, seven against and three abstentions, the foreign affairs commission of the European Parliament adopted Wednesday the resolution on Macedonia’s progress in 2010. The report, drafted by Slovenian MEP Zoran Thaler and rapporteur on Macedonia, recommends that Macedonia should open membership negotiations with the EU as soon as possible.

Of the 152 filed amendments, 14 compromise and another 50 amendments were adopted, MIA’s correspondent said.

“Our goal is that Macedonia joins the EU in near future. Therefore the European Parliament recommends that the accession talks should begin immediately, which was confirmed and called for by the EC twice,” Thaler said.

According to him, there are still unresolved issues, such as the lack of political dialogue, the interethnic relations and the independence of the media and the judiciary.

The resolution also appeals to the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU, Catherine Ashton, and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule to make more effort in seeking out a solution to the, as the report refers to it, unfortunate name dispute with Greece.

One of the amendments insists that the parties should resolve their bilateral problems in the spirit of good neighborly relations, taking into account the EU general interest.

Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Vasko Naumovski, who participated in the debate in Brussels, call for EU assistance in Macedonia’s integration and support from Greece in that process and confirmed that the country remained committed on its path to Brussels.

“The EU should make active use of the tools and mechanisms in order to keep the country on the path of reforms for membership and should insist that the necessary reforms be carried out,” Naumovski said.

The boycott of the opposition, the marking of the 10th anniversary of the Framework Agreement, the relations between Albanians and Macedonians, the contentious statement of Bitola mayor Vladimir Taleski about the holocaust, and the freedom of media were some of the issues tabled at the Wednesday session.

According to the president of the joint Macedonia-EU Committee, German MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, the unresolved name issue is not the only problem. He expressed remarks also about the attitude to the former EU Ambassador Erwan Fouere, and as MIA’s correspondent reported, he also talked about the freedom of media. According to him, it is uncertain that even the early elections would unblock the internal political dialogue.

In an attempt to help the Greek position in the lawsuit at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, four days before the start of the hearing, MEP Georgios Koumoutsakos said in the European Parliament that Greece did not veto Macedonia’s accession to NATO. This statement conflicts with the earlier statements of Bakoyannis and Karamanlis, who confirmed on several occasions that Greece blocked Macedonia at the NATO Summit in Bucharest in 2008.

“A joint decision was taken in Bucharest. The joint position was that an invitation would be extended once the name issue was resolved,” Koumoutsakos said.

Deputy Prime Minister Naumovski reminded the Greek MEPs that Macedonia was not invited because of the Greek block.

“It is not a secret what country did not let Macedonia be invited to join NATO. I did not say that the other countries agreed with Greece but that all countries agreed that Macedonia should meet the required criteria to become a member. There is one issue that keeps us outside of NATO and you know what that is,” Naumovski said.