Mr. Jasmin Kahil:

I will be very short. In regard to Turkey, I was lucky to spend three years of my diplomatic life there, and ten years ago the situation was not the same and the relations between the EU and Turkey were far better. I was going to the Ministry for European Union Affairs and to Mr. Egemen Ba for advice. At that time, ten years ago, it really seemed that Turkey was very close to the EU and it was opening chapters but something changed in the meantime.

In regard to North Macedonia, we have had three or four very bleak days since our independence. A commission was set up by the European Union in January 1992. It was chaired by Mr. Badinter and Mr. Herzog was a member. This commission had to say which republics of the former Yugoslavia should be independent states. On 15 January 1992, a decision was made that it would be only Slovenia and Macedonia. On the same night, we were waiting on recognition from half of Europe. Nothing happened except the decision to include Bulgaria and then a few weeks later Turkey. All of a sudden, we were aware that there was a big problem. That was a big disappointment.

The second disappointment one was in June 1992, when the EU made the unbelievable decision that we could not be an independent state unless we change the name without Macedonia. That was completely unacceptable and a big disappointment. The third disappointment was in April 2008 at the Bucharest NATO summit. President Bush said that from the next day, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia would be NATO members.

We did not become a member of NATO because our membership was vetoed. Our Greek friends stated that they did not veto our membership. We took a case to the International Court of Justice in the Hague because an agreement between Greece and North Macedonia dating from 1995 states that each country may not veto the other side's entering an international organisation on the basis of the name issue. It was obvious that was the reason for Greece doing so. We won our case, with the court deciding in our favour on a unanimous basis, 15:0. However, nothing happened because NATO stated that it was a political decision. The third big disappointment was in April 2008. The failure last month to begin talks on our membership of the EU was a fourth big disappointment. We are managing the situation. We anticipate that we will complete our accession to NATO before next April. We hope to become a member of the EU.

There was a question on possible meetings between President Pendarovski and President Macron of France. The presidents met yesterday. The North Macedonian President explained our situation and why we should start negotiations. President Macron insisted on the new criteria and referred to March. He mentioned that he sent proposals regarding the new criteria for the accession process to other member states. We hope it will be concluded before the EU-Western Balkans summit in Zagreb but for many years, we have hoped that it would be concluded at the next EU summit.

The elections in April were precipitated by the decision of the EU. In 2008, after the debacle at the NATO summit in Bucharest, the former Prime Minister called an early election and won that election. The current Prime Minister decided to do likewise. He had stated that if we did not get the promised date for starting the negotiations, he would call an election, and he did so. One of the main issues in the election will be whether it was a mistake to change the name of the country and the impact of that decision on our accession. There are five months until the election.

There was a very good question regarding whether my country wishes to become a member of the EU for reasons of stability, peace and so on. It may be the case that it wishes to become a member of NATO for those reasons, but they are not our reasons for wishing to join the EU. We are Europeans. We were part of Yugoslavia which, although it was a communist country, was quite liberal compared to other such countries. We were raised on British humour and rock music. I listened to U2, Thin Lizzy and many other bands and came here to see them. We did not need a visa to come here at the time, unlike the current situation. Even though I have a diplomatic passport and I am a chargé d'affaires in the UK, I need a visa to come here. People in my country were raised on western culture. My country, the former Republic of Macedonia, now North Macedonia, has never been under the influence of any other country, as members will understand. We were always western-oriented. We continue to believe that we are part of Europe. The Eurovision Song Contest is as popular in my country as it is in Ireland. We nearly won it this year. In the 1990s, Ireland was the most successful country in the contest. We North Macedonians are Europeans and that is the main reason our country should be a member of the EU. We will contribute to the EU. It is not just about maintaining peace. We are Europeans. My country was influenced by no country other than those with western values, rock music, literature and so on. Yugoslavia was that kind of country, unlike certain other countries in the region at the time.