News
4/5/2019 12:01
Deputy Prime
Minister for European affairs Bujar Osmani, who pays a working visit to the
Republic of Portugal, had a meeting with the President of the Committee on
European Affairs at the Parliament of the Republic of Portugal, Regina Bastos.
At the meeting
they opened the topics for the support by Portugal for the European integration
of the Republic of North Macedonia, the bilateral cooperation between the
Parliaments of both countries, as well as the topics related to the European
challenges, such as: Brexit, influence of fake news, the breakthrough of the
radical populism, the nationalism, etc.
"We are
witnessing the probably most turbulent period for the European continent since
the Second World War. The European elections are burdened with the challenges
posed by the Brexit process, and the continent is still under the influence of
the flood of populism, radicalism and extremism, and the current hybrid threats
are still present," Osmani said. In this regard, the interlocutors jointly
emphasized that both the member states and the candidate countries for EU
membership have a common duty to create a safer, more stable and more
prosperous Europe, so that Osmani emphasised that the Republic of North
Macedonia is a stable EU partner on the Balkans.
During the
conversation, Deputy Prime Minister Osmani briefly informed her interlocutor
about the implemented reforms, the achieved results, the way institutions are
adapting to the reforms, the upcoming elections, as well as other processes
related to the European integration of our country.
During the
meeting, the two interlocutors jointly agreed that the bilateral co-operation
between the two countries should be expanded between the two parliaments, in order
to facilitate the sharing of the experience of colleagues from Portugal, thus
expressing mutual satisfaction from the establishment of the cooperation group
with Portugal in our Parliament.
"The
National Parliaments play a very important role in the harmonisation of
legislation and their alignment with European acquis". In this regard, I
expect stronger activities in the upcoming period, in the direction of mutual
cooperation between the two legislative institutions, through the already
established group for cooperation with Portugal, as well as through the
utilization of the Portuguese experience in this process "- added Osmani.
In this context, it was jointly concluded that the role of the national
parliaments and the European Parliament is crucial to the enlargement process
and to the new political reforms of the EU.
As part of his
working visit to Portugal, Deputy Prime Minister Osmani will have a meeting
with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Portugal, Augusto
Santos Silva, and on Sunday (7 April) he will participate on the Annual Horasis
Global Meeting which is one of the
leading world business global leaders where this year's discussions will focus
on the topic "Catalysis of the benefits of globalisation".