Portugal’s Ambassador to Bulgaria: The opinion of Sofia regarding Republic of North Macedonia should be respected

The start of the EU negotiation process with Skopje and Tirana was among the priorities of the Portuguese presidency of the council of the EU. Portugal has made great efforts to make a breakthrough, but today we heard that the Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs Ana Paula Zacharias emphasized that Sofia's position should be respected.

In the BNT programme "The World and We" on June 29, Portugal's Ambassador to Bulgaria Ana Maria Ribeiro da Silva noted that these are very long and sensitive processes and the different approaches of the member states should be taken into account.

"We have always worked to make as much progress as possible. We made a proposal that we had been working on for several months. We hoped that it would be acceptable to both sides, that it would be fair and that it would be the basis for continuing and concluding the negotiations - the integration of Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia into the European Union. Bulgaria is a member state and its opinion should be respected, understood and explored, but this does not mean that we should not listen to others. We are honest mediators, we did everything in our power, but we are aware that this will take time," HE Anna Maria Ribeiro da Silva pointed out.

As regards the Portugal’s presidency of the Council of the EU, she said:

"Our presidency started at a very difficult time because of the COVID challenge. Together with the EC and other member states, we were able to find a solution to give a proper response to the pandemic.

One of the good achievements of our presidency was the fact that we managed to deal with the mechanism for the distribution of vaccines and to create an organization so that they could reach everyone. The "green" certificate, which will take effect on July 1, is also one of the achievements of the Portuguese presidency. The system is already working in some countries. This is a step forward for our citizens so that they can return to normalcy as much as possible."

The diplomat expressed hope that with joint efforts the member states and the EC will successfully overcome all future challenges they face linked to the new variants of the coronavirus.

Чуйте последните новини, където и да сте!
Последвайте ни във Facebook и Instagram
Следете и канала на БНТ в YouTube
Вече може да ни гледате и в TikTok
Намерете ни в Google News