"The road to joining the EU is long and the drawbacks that you should overcome are numerous. A Spaniard is telling you this. But what is more important for you today is that the road has already been traced," said the President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell Fontelles, in his address to the Macedonian Parliament on Monday.

Mr. Fontelles, who is on a 3-day visit to Macedonia, had meetings on Monday with President Branko Crvenkovski, Assembly Chairman Ljupco Jordanovski, Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski and Interior Minister Ljubomir Mihajlovski.

Speaking before the Macedonian MPs, he stressed that fair and democratic elections, building police, public administration and judiciary and continuing economic reforms are the challenges facing Macedonia, which the country should fulfill in order to join the EU. He also said that on its part the EU is going to continue to support Macedonia.