The President of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini, believes that no country, no matter how difficult the situation may be, should have an advantage and enter the EU by a shortcut. It should follow the path of negotiations and reforms and then become part of the Union. Therefore, he believes, the countries that have the right to become members of the European Union are primarily those from the Western Balkans, including North Macedonia.
– Regarding Chancellor Merz’s proposal, there is complete agreement between the President and the Prime Minister of Slovakia because I personally think and told the President during our official talks that there should be no shortcuts in the accession process. No country, regardless of the difficult situation it is in, can immediately gain an advantage in order to be accepted over those countries that have gone a long way and many years of preparation, because this would really be very negative in relation to the countries of the Western Balkans and for the people there, if Ukraine immediately becomes a member state or has associative membership and can sit at the table during the negotiations and meetings of the European Union – said Pellegrini in response to a journalist’s question at the joint press conference with Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova.
The EU, he added, has its own rules and those rules should be followed. In the event that Ukraine fulfills these conditions and follows that path, Slovakia, he added, will certainly support Ukraine in that process, but will not support any short-cuts or privileges that will be offered to certain countries over others.
– That is why I am convinced that the countries that have the right to become members of the European Union are primarily those from the Western Balkans, including North Macedonia. There was a summit of foreign ministers of the Friends of the Western Balkans group and no one changed their mind. Slovakia will continue to speak loudly about this at the political level. Something else that we discussed with the Madam President – I cannot imagine that the EU would expand with a country that is at war with the Russian Federation. It was invaded by the Russian Federation. This could mean that a country that is not part of the EU would become part of it under such conditions. When we think about the future of Ukraine, the first condition is to negotiate fairly and stop the war. Then we can talk about the potential membership of Ukraine in the EU. This conflict should be resolved diplomatically and this should be a basic condition for any future discussion on Ukraine’s accession to the EU – said Pellegrini.
President Siljanovska-Davkova is on an official visit to Slovakia, where she was received today with the highest state and military honors. Then they held a face-to-face meeting with their Slovak colleague Peter Pellegrini, which was followed by a plenary meeting of the Macedonian and Slovak delegations.
The focus of the talks was the assessment and improvement of bilateral relations, with an emphasis on political cooperation, our marathon European integration and Slovak support in the process. The subject of the dialogue were also: economic cooperation, trade exchange and investments, as well as the possibilities for strengthened partnership in energy, infrastructure, tourism and innovations.
The interlocutors exchanged opinions on the current security and geopolitical situation in Europe, cooperation within NATO, as well as the need for stability and a clear European perspective of the region.
Within the framework of the official visit, the President is scheduled to meet with the President of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Rihard Raši, as well as with the Vice-President of the Government of the Slovak Republic and Minister of Defense, Robert Kalinjak, reported MIA.
