Skopje, 14 and 15 June 2019
Our bilateral meeting in Skopje, in partnership with the European Movement of Northern Macedonia, took place on 14 and 15 June in Skopje. Within the framework of the EMI, we had the opportunity to contact Milena GJUROVSKA, the President of the European Movement of Northern Macedonia. She was largely responsible for organising this meeting, in accordance with her intentions.
There were in fact two very distinct events: on Friday 14 June a reception was held at the Ambassador's residence, in the presence of His Excellency Christian THIMONIER, but also François LAFOND, adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs.
After that, the next day we had a meeting with several speakers at the Stonebridge Hotel in Skopje, followed by lunch. There was Christian THIMONIER again, but also François LAFOND and several Macedonian personalities such as Muhamad HALILI, Vice-President of the Skopje ME, and Mrs GJUROVSKA, with simultaneous translation and television cameras due to the presence of the Ambassador. The general theme of the discussion was "From Partnership to Membership: Macedonia in Europe". For EUROCAPITALES, Jean-Paul DOGUET gave a presentation on the link between deepening and enlargement.
It was a very interesting meeting, even if I was disappointed to see that a few months later President Macron rejected the prospect of Northern Macedonia joining the EU, a position that was not shared by the French speakers.
