During her speech at the panel “ Building Trust Through Dialogue” that took place in North Macedonia, Minister Olta Xhaçka said that the time has come for a still more positive change in approaching the aspirations of the Western Balkans towards EU integration.

“Our region has undergone an extraordinary transformation thanks to the common European dream and to the EU support so far. But as the Council clearly observed on June 22nd, the EU today does not seem to have a strategic approach to the region, which we hope will change after failing to provide Albania and North Macedonia with a date for the first Intergovernmental Conference.

This is certainly not just an EU lapse on the issue. We, the two countries in question ourselves need to work still harder to increase the strategic importance of our region and to have a more proactive approach to integration, not only expecting from the EU, but also working at the regional level to build up European mechanisms in our region by creating a common space of joint possibilities”, said the minister in her speech.

The first day of the Prespa Dialogue Forum was attended by the region’s top diplomats as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary at U.S Department of State, Matthew Palmer.