The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, made yesterday in Montenegro and North Macedonia the second stage of his tour of the Western Balkans, clearly marked by Spain’s support for the European perspective of the countries of the region.
In Montenegro, the first stage of yesterday’s tour, Pedro Sánchez met with the President, Milo Djukanovic, and the Prime Minister, Dritan Abazović, with whom he discussed bilateral relations, the country’s EU accession process and the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Sánchez is the first Spanish Prime Minister to visit Montenegro.
During his institutional statement with President Djukanovic. Sánchez highlighted Montenegro’s “unbeatable” position to move quickly towards EU accession, “if it commits to reforms”, and assured that one of the reasons for his trip to Podgorica was, in addition to boosting collaboration between societies and companies through “increasingly solid and diverse” bilateral relations, to show “Spain’s commitment to Montenegro’s accession to the European Union, and that of the region as a whole”.
“Montenegro must become a great example for the region,” he said. “As it has done with Ukraine, the European Union must live up to this historic moment and reaffirm its commitment to Montenegro,” he added. Montenegro has had the status of candidate for EU membership since 2011 and, on June 29, 2012 began negotiations. On economic and trade relations between Spain and Montenegro, Sanchez addressed during his meetings the great potential for growth in the tourism sector and in sectors such as infrastructure.
The President of the Government formally announced that after the trip, Spain will open a “diplomatic antenna” in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, to promote increased bilateral relations. The “diplomatic antenna”, which will be attached to the Embassy in Belgrade, will be headed by Manuel Durán, an experienced diplomat, who will reside in Podgorica, as The Diplomat has already reported.
Pedro Sánchez then moved on to North Macedonia, where he held a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister, Dimitar Kovačevski, and was received by the country’s President, Stevo Pendarovski. at the Presidential Palace. The Chief Executive is the first European leader to visit North Macedonia since the beginning of negotiations for the country’s accession to the EU, last July 19.
At the end of the meeting with his counterpart, the Prime Minister made an institutional statement to the media, together with Dimitar Kovačevski, in which he positively assessed the Macedonian effort for the beginning of the negotiations: “You have unblocked the road that will lead this country to the place where it should be: the European Union. North Macedonia is Europe, both geographically and historically. And now you are a little closer to your longed-for goal.”
North Macedonia made its application for membership in 2004, in 2005 it received candidate status and on July 19, 2022, after a complex preliminary agreement with Bulgaria, the negotiation process was opened. In this regard, Sanchez stressed that, although “the road is not easy”, North Macedonia will have the support of Spain to achieve it. “We support you and we will continue to support you in the necessary reforms to go through, stage by stage, the road to accession,” he declared.
Pedro Sanchez also stressed Spain’s interest in strengthening relations with North Macedonia in areas such as culture, economy, trade or defense. Spain and North Macedonia have good economic and commercial relations and there are Spanish companies established in the country. According to Sánchez, collaboration could be strengthened in sectors such as railroads, water, renewable energies, defense, management, urban waste recycling and smart cities.
Sánchez concludes today in Albania his tour of the Western Balkans, which began on Friday in Serbia and continued on Saturday in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Albania has had candidate status for eight years and accession negotiations also began on July 19, as in the case of North Macedonia.
