Zaev meets President of Senat, Cuenca: Spain recognizes the improvement of North Macedonia’s institutional improvement; support on European path will continue

The President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, accompanied by the Deputy President of the Government in charge of European Affairs, Nikola Dimitrov, in the frames of the working visit to the Kingdom of Spain, first on prime-ministerial level, had a meeting with the President of the Senate of Spain, Maria Pilar Llop Cuenca. 

At the meeting PM Zaev expressed his gratitude, on behalf of the Government and the citizens of North Macedonia, for the support that Spain has been providing to the Euro-Atlantic path of our country. This support is especially visible now, when the friendly country is supporting our EU accession process. 

“The citizens of North Macedonia are especially thankful and will remember forever the gesture made by the Spanish Senate when it enabled electronic voting of the Protocol for Ratification of the membership of North Macedonia into NATO, in exceptionally dramatic moments at the beginning of the pandemic”, underlined PM Zaev at the meeting with the President of the Spanish Senate, Cuenca. 

Zaev added that this gesture, as well as the support provided by all other NATO member-states was an encouragement for the Euro-integration process and for the strong commitment of the country to nurture and reaffirm the European values and reforms according to the European standards, especially in the area of rule of law and fight against corruption. 

The President of the Senate of the Kingdom of Spain, Maria Pilar Llop Cuenca on her behalf underlined that the members of the Senate recognized the importance of North Macedonia’s accession to NATO and that is why they were pleased to undertake all necessary measures to secure electronic voting in order to close the ratification process followed by the formal admittance of the country into the Alliance. 

President Cuenca further emphasized that Spain will continue to strongly support North Macedonia on its European path and that it recognizes the achievements and results for improvement of the institutional system in the country which is especially important in terms of EU integration. 

At the meeting President Cuenca said that these accomplishments are a result of the leadership of the country in the past four years, especially the personal engagement of PM Zaev. 
“The Prespa Agreement and the overall domestic and international policy makes you an example for the power and importance of the dialogue and when it comes to leading a successful dialogue, we can learn a lot from you”, said Cuenca. 

During the visit to the Senate of the Kingdom of Spain, Prime Minister Zaev and the accompanying delegation visited the Historic Library of the Senate where maps of Europe from the 17th century are exhibited. These maps show the wider geographic region of Macedonia.