Mr. Jasmin Kahil:

I thank the Chairman, the distinguished members of this committee and my dear colleagues. It is a great privilege for me to have the opportunity to represent the case of my country regarding the EU. I will start on our relations with Ireland. The relations are good. Ireland has a special place on our path towards the EU because, during the Irish Presidency of the European Council in 2004, we submitted our application for membership. The day 26 February 2004 was a very sad one for us not because of the submission of the application but because 20 minutes before our then Prime Minister's scheduled meeting in Dublin with the then Irish Prime Minister, Mr. Bertie Ahern, we heard the sad news that our President, Mr. Boris Trajkovski, had died suddenly. Consequently, the submitting of the application was postponed for one month but our then Prime Minister, Mr. Branko Crvenkovski, still attended in April 2004. We became candidates in London in 2005.

In the recent period, the Republic of North Macedonia, which has been the official name since 16 February this year, has completed thorough domestic reforms and has solved longstanding difficult and sensitive open issues with its neighbour Bulgaria. We signed an agreement on friendship and co-operation in 2017. We signed the Prespa agreement with Greecein June 2018. We have shown the maturity to pay a high political price. We believe it is the only path that secures the prosperity of our country. The European perspective, especially the promise to open the accession negotiations, was the key motivation for us to deliver on all fields. That is why there is a great feeling of disappointment and bitterness among the citizens of North Macedonia, regardless of their ethnicity. The EU did not deliver on the long-promised start of the accession negotiations although we have delivered by carrying out reforms and changing such a sacred thing as the name of the country, which is a still a highly polarising issue among our citizens. Even with the reward of entering the EU and NATO, the changing of the name was too high a price. One can imagine how great the disappointment was when we did not get at least half of the price, that is, a start to the negotiations with the EU. The atmosphere is very disappointing.

North Macedonia has been an EU candidate country since December 2005, when Britain held the Presidency under former UK Prime Minister Mr. Tony Blair. Since then, we had a very bumpy road in our negotiations, or on starting the negotiations with the EU. We believed we had done our homework and that everything would be ready for this year but what we wanted did not happen. Fortunately, NATO fulfilled its promise so we are going to be the 30th NATO member country, probably by April of next year. It should have been December 2019 but, because of the internal problems in Spain, which would be the last country to ratify the accession protocol for NATO, we are not going to catch the Leaders' summit in London on 3 and 4 December. We hope, however, we will be a member of NATO by April next year.

There are already some consequences arising from last month's EU Council decision. Our Prime Minister, Mr. Zoran Zaev, requested early parliamentary elections that will enable the citizens to decide on how to further European integration. The elections will be held on 12 April 2020, seven months before the regular date.

North Macedonia, as well as the other countries from the western Balkans, has no choice other than to continue on its way to full membership of the European Union. We are aware that we have to implement the necessary reforms to comply fully with European values and reach European standards but the latest conclusions of the European Union leave North Macedonia in great uncertainty in respect of whether they represent a withdrawal of the European perspective regarding EU membership for the western Balkan countries. This would not only be an historical mistake but also a strategic failure of the European Union.

We are aware that today the EU enlargement does not resonate well within some EU member states. We should work very hard on changing this perception of our region in the EU. If this can be achieved through reforming the methodology of the current accession process and merit-based evaluation for every candidate separately, then North Macedonia fully supports such an approach. The full membership in the European Union is the goal of my country that cannot be replaced by just "special" relations with the EU, or any other country outside the EU.

There is no alternative for us on our European path. The results of the Irish membership in the EU are the best recommendation for us never to give up efforts for reaching this goal, no matter how long and difficult this process will be. At first, however, the process of accession negotiation has to start. Better sooner than later.