Fouere: Macedonia should take responsibility for its setbacks towards EU

14/09/2008

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Macedonia should not blame Greece if it fails to receive a date to start EU accession talks, EU Ambassador to Skopje Erwan Fouere said on Friday (September 12th). If this happens, he said, it will be due to problems that occurred during the elections, lack of political dialogue and the boycott of the institutions by the opposition, Fouere told journalists after meeting French Ambassador to Skopje Bernard Valero. Last week, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski accused Greece of hampering Macedonia's EU integration process because of the name dispute between the two countries.

"We all know that the citizens of Macedonia are not stupid, and they must be told the truth," Fouere said. Valero, meanwhile, said incidents that marred the elections in June must not be repeated at the next elections, scheduled for 2009. (Dnevnik, Vreme - 13/09/08, Makfax, A1, Alsat TV - 12/09/08)