Membership in the European Union and NATO will be to great advantage of both the peoples from the Western Balkans and Europe as a whole, Geoff Hoon, Minister for Europe in the British Government, stressed. Hoon is currently on a visit to Skopje, where he will meet with the Macedonian political leadership today.

Minister Hoon writes specially for "Dnevnik" about Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic prospects.

As Minister for Europe, many people ask me about the future of the European Union and Great Britain's position in the European Union. I suppose that many Macedonians ask Deputy Prime Minister Mrs. Gabriela Konevska-Trajkovska this same question. Her work is somewhat easier than mine considering that, as I have learned, recent opinion polls indicate that approximately 96 percent of the Macedonians agree with the idea of Macedonia becoming part of the EU. Support for the EU in Great Britain is much smaller.

Great Britain has always been consistent in its support for enlargement of the EU. I firmly believe that the Western Balkan countries' future is in the EU.

Our continued support for enlargement of the European Union, including the request for Macedonia's membership, was in the center of our chairing with the European Union. We were very pleased when the European Council awarded your country full candidate status in December year 2005......