This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 10 Jun 2008, by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann.
Despite the incidents, the minister stressed that his country felt ready to open EU accession negotiations and was hoping for this to happen this year.
"Macedonia is aware that we will not be prepared by tomorrow to become a member of the EU, but we feel prepared tomorrow to open accession negotiations over EU membership," he said.
Macedonia's preferred timing coincides with France's presidency of the EU, which is to start on 1 July and will last until the end of the year.
But French President Nicolas Sarkozy has clearly stated that he supports Greece in a 17-year-old name row over Macedonia's name - something that may eventually prove problematic for Skopje's EU bid.
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.