Macedonia belongs to Europe and it is in Europe’s interest that Macedonia opens accession talks with the European Union as soon as possible, said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who paid a one-day official visit to Macedonia Thursday. After meeting his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski, Prime Minister Orban said that Hungary as a country chairing the EU would keep high on its agenda the opening of membership negotiations as soon as possible.

He stressed that Macedonia had been a country with a candidate member status for six years and that, considering its achievements, it undoubtedly deserved to join the EU in which the Union was truly interested but was obstructed by an unnatural situation that suited no one.

“It is not my business to take sides in Macedonia’s bilateral relations with another country but my job is to cater for Europe’s interests and the EU interest is that Macedonia joins the Union as soon as possible. I believe that these talks should begin as soon as possible. No interest of the EU will be threatened if the talks begin,” the Hungarian prime minister said.

Asked about his expectations as regards Macedonia’s upcoming elections, Prime Minister Orban said he visited Macedonia as a chief of the Hungarian government yet expressed readiness to participate, if invited, in the campaign of VMRO-DPMNE, which is part of the family of right-wing parties.

Prime Minister Gruevski underlined he was grateful for the continuous support from Hungary as regards Macedonia’s European integration.

“Today’s visit is a strong political signal that the Hungarian presidency backs strongly the process of enlargement of the EU, which is a strong encouragement for us to continue carrying out the required reforms in attaining our top strategic goal – full-fledged membership of the EU,” Gruevski said.

He pointed out also the great potential for economic cooperation between the two friendly countries that have excellent political relations.

Macedonia and Hungary intend to step up their economic cooperation and to this end they signed Thursday an economic cooperation agreement.