EU integration main priority for Macedonia

Macedonia is prioritizing EU integration to attract foreign investment, bring stability to the country and boost living standards, the country’s top diplomat has said.

 

Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki told Anadolu Agency, “In order to increase living standards in Macedonia, and to bring stability and foreign investments to our country, our main priority is European Union integration.”

 

He added that the hurdles his country has faced during its EU and NATO membership bids increased the problems’ urgency.

 

Meanwhile, for the last two months thousands have been protesting the government in 20 cities across the country.

 

Since February 2015, opposition head Zoran Zaev has released scores of recordings, purporting to demonstrate that then-embattled prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, and then-intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, ordered the illegal surveillance of up to 20,000 people, including government ministers and journalists.

 

The ensuing political crisis was thought to have been brought to an end in July 2015, when an EU-mediated agreement was reached between the leaders of the four parliamentary political parties.

 

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