The Republic of Macedonia should be allowed to immediately open membership negotiations with the European Union as the bilateral name dispute should be resolved in parallel with the negotiations considering the country has met the required conditions for opening accession talks a few years ago. Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki told MIA this was the crucial message from the ministerial meeting of the countries of the Visegrad Group and the Western Balkans held in Budapest Thursday (31 October).

The central topic of the meeting, also attended by EU Commissioner Stefan Fule, is the European integration of the Western Balkan countries and the challenges on their path toward the EU.