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The top diplomats of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Croatia discussed the continued implementation of the priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency

26 September 2018 News

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Croatia — Ekaterina Zaharieva, Nikos Kotsias, Theodore Meleshkanu and Marija Pejčinović-Burić — took part in a quadrilateral meeting in New York to discuss the EU integration of the Western Balkans and other issues on the international agenda.

This is the second meeting in this format within the format of the UN General Assembly.

‘Colleagues, it is essential that we continue to work together with our partners from the Western Balkans. Next year it will be important to demonstrate that the EU stands firmly by its decisions. I remain hopeful that this is when membership negotiations will commence with Tirana and Skopje. However, both countries must demonstrate that they are willing to go ahead with the necessary reforms’, Minister Zaharieva said.

On 26 June this year, the General Affairs Council of the EU, chaired by Minister Zaharieva, gave the green light to the future negotiations for the accession of the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Albania to the EU. According to the Council’s conclusions, ‘The Council has agreed to take a positive view of the progress achieved and to open the door to the commencement of accession negotiations to the two countries in June 2019’.

Minister Zaharieva pointed out the importance of the referendum in Skopje for the agreement reached with Greece and the need for the six countries in the region, which have not yet joined the EU, to carry on with the implementation of the plan of reforms and the recommendations in order to achieve visible progress.

Minister Marija Pejčinović-Burić said that the region had changed since the last meeting in the autumn of the previous year.

‘We will continue the excellent work done by Bulgaria during our Presidency of the Council of the European Union’, the Romanian top diplomat Theodore Meleshkanu affirmed.

Minister Nikos Kotsias proposed that the Ministers organise a joint trip to Skopje and Tirana as a demonstration of political support for the two countries.

Minister Zaharieva noted that the quadrilateral format was very useful and proposed to extend it at all levels of the ministries of the four countries.

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