At their meeting in Skopje Friday, the Presidents of Macedonia and Serbia, Gjorge Ivanov and Boris Tadic, supported each other in the European integration processes of their countries after Brussels set Serbia an additional condition as it did to Macedonia keeping the country for three years without a decision for opening membership negotiations. Saying that hardship makes us closer, President Tadic called on Serbian politicians to take the example of their Macedonian counterparts considering that even after three years they are not discouraged.

President Ivanov said at the press conference that Macedonia WAS not discouraged by being set additional conditions and by the fact that it had been issued positive reports for three years without a date for opening talks though.

“We continue carrying out reforms and attaining European criteria, values and principles inside the country. As a country, our goal is to create Europe at home. The negotiations will be much easier then and it will be easier for us to say the Union then we are ready for membership. Although we have delays and some believe that we have missed a lot, these past three years useful reforms have been carried out,” President Ivanov said.