EC President Jose Manuel Barosso: Macedonia needs to push on with reforms

Macedonia needs to boost its reform process and reach a name agreement with Greece in order to avoid slowing down its EU bid, the head of the European Commission said during his visit to Skopje.

“Now is the time to settle the name issue, and the new climate of confidence between your country and Greece should be seized,” Jose Manuel Barroso said during a speech on Saturday at a debate on Macedonia’s EU future in Skopje.

Barroso was accompanied by EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele.

The visit to Skopje, which came as part of their Balkan tour, also included talks with Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

The top EU officials also spoke with Ali Ahmeti, the head of the largest ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, and the leader of the main opposition Social Democrats, Branko Crvenkovski.