News
9/19/2018 17:57
Today in the Parliament of the Republic of
Macedonia was held the 15th Joint Parliamentary Committee between the Republic
of Macedonia and the European Union co-chaired by Goran Milevski and Alojz
Peterle, where at the first working session the State Secretary in the
Secretariat for European Affairs, Kalinka Gaber had an address.
In her address, State
Secretary Gaber emphasised the crucial moment in the country in terms of the
Euro-Atlantic future, especially the importance of the support that we receive
from our international partners, primarily the one coming from the
European Commission and the EU Member States.
In addition, she underlined
that the Government has successfully responded to the challenges regarding the
implementation of reforms the past period, as well as in closing the open
issues with the neighbours. She briefly addressed the key results in the
priority areas such as justice, reform of intelligence services, public
administration reform and the fight against organised crime and corruption.
"I think that we can all
be happy with the developments in the past year and a half, given that we have
succeeded to bring the country back on a real and irreversible path to
Euro-Atlantic integration," Gaber said.
In this context, the
Government will remain focused on the reforms as in the priority areas covered
by the new Plan 18, - the short-term priorities of all chapters arising from
the Country's Annual Report of April 2018, as well as the mid-term priorities
in the revised version of the National programme for the adoption of EU acquis
2019-2021.
"The progress achieved
was also confirmed by the conclusions of the Council of the EU, which were
confirmed by the European Council, which provided a clear opportunity for the
start of the accession negotiations in June 2019. Consequently, we are
intensively working on the establishment of the negotiating structure and the
preparation for the screening process, which begins in ten days with chapter 23
- judiciary and fundamental rights "- added Gaber, emphasising that the
administration has a long year accumulated experience that will be of
exceptional importance in these processes.