Press Advisories

17. 12. 2019 15:17

Prime Minister Andrei Babiš receives the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev

Prime Minister Andrei Babiš receives the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev, 17 December 2019.
Prime Minister Andrei Babiš receives the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev, 17 December 2019.
On Tuesday, 17 December 2019, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš received Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, at the Kramář Villa.

Prime Minister Babiš's meeting with Prime Minister Zaev was a continuation of previous talks. The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic visited North Macedonia in June 2019, when one topic among others was support from the Czech Republic for the early membership of North Macedonia in the European Union. "Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and I are friends. We have met three times this year. In September we organised a meeting with partners from the western Balkans for the V4,” said the Czech Prime Minister.

At the Kramář Villa Andrej Babiš and Zoran Zaev discussed the integration of North Macedonia into the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as migration, defence and economic cooperation.

“Next March the European Council will hold talks and will again discuss the accession of North Macedonia to the European Union. I hope that this time we will come to agreement and start accession negotiations. I am also very pleased that North Macedonia will soon become a new NATO member state. NATO membership will certainly increase the security and stability of our wider Euro-Atlantic area,” Andrej Babiš said after the meeting.

Czech police are also involved in the protection of the borders of the Republic of North Macedonia and the fight against illegal migration. To date, 1,147 police officers have been sent to North Macedonia.

“In June, when I visited North Macedonia, I visited our police officers at that critical point on the border where thousands of illegal migrants were arriving, paradoxically from the Schengen area, from Greece. Here I must highlight the role of North Macedonia. It has been a key partner not only for the Czech Republic, but for the whole European Union in dealing with illegal migration. We value their responsible and successful efforts to close the so-called West Balkan migration route,” added the Czech Prime Minister.

print article   email   facebook   twitter

Photo gallery

Photo Gallery