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Southeast Europe
July 7, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
way too long. Ankara applied for EU membership in 1987 and was declared an eligible candidate in 1999. Formal accession negotiations started in 2005, but talks have stalled over the past cou- ple of years as the pace of reforms in Turkey has slowed. Now Ankara is asking what the point of holding accession talks is, if Turkey will never be admitted to the bloc.
Responding to the vote in Strasbourg, Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik said: “We reject it. The
Macedonia to undertake thorough reforms as
it aims for EU, Nato membership
Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje
Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on July
5 unveiled details of the draft plan to implement urgent priority reforms needed for the tiny Balkan country to make further progress towards integra- tion into key international institutions.
One of the main priorities of the new government led by Zaev’s Social Democrats is bringing Mac- edonia into the European Union and Nato. The aim of the package is to convince EU members to set a date for Macedonia to start EU accession talks. The draft document is also expected to bring Mac- edonia closer to Nato.
“The plan dubbed 3-6-9, adopted on July 4, is an important document for the country's Euro-Atlantic perspectives, which will improve the quality of life of all citizens,” Zaev said in a government statement.
“Within three months, the government should complete the first reforms, which will provide ar-
call by the European parliament to suspend talks is a political decision”.
“The backbone of the relationship between Turkey and the EU is accession negotiations,” Celik told reporters in Ankara, according to Hurriyet Daily News.
“We will return this report as soon as we receive it without even reading one page of it,” Celik scolded.
Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev unveils reform plans.
guments for the European Commission to remove the conditionality of the recommendation for Mac- edonia to start the EU accession talks,” the prime minister added.
Macedonia has been an EU candidate country since 2005 and recently received eight recommen- dations, conditional mostly on the implementation of reforms in various sectors, to start the long- awaited accession talks. However, the country also needs to resolve the "name dispute" with Greece — which objects to the use of the name Macedonia as it is shared by a Greek province — to be able
to join international organisations. Greece is also blocking Macedonia’s bid to be part of Nato.
The reforms outlined by Zaev include a demo- cratic parliament, judicial and media reforms, the fight against organised crime and corruption, as well as reforms in the public administration and security services.