The prospect of EU membership is a driving power for the stability and prosperity of the region, Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki said Thursday at the "EU-Western Balkans" ministerial conference in Thessaloniki.

He reminded that the most significant messages for the European perspective of the Western Balkan countries were heralded exactly from Thessaloniki in 2003, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.

The EU should be as serious in regard to preserving the enlargement process as are the candidate countries in terms of meeting all membership criteria, Poposki said.

Macedonia is fully prepared to kick start the EU accession talks, something that has been acknowledged by the European Commission for several years in a row, he said. The decision-making by EU members should be based on those acknowledgements “as we are aware that there are political against decisions based on work done.

"If the EU wishes for all countries of the region to be its part, as heralded from Thessaloniki 11 years ago, than it should enable them to make credible progress. Such development requires for decision-making process to be based on principles, without any avoidance of an open discussion," Poposki said.

Finally he pointed out that Macedonia had neither intention nor interest to bring harm to its southern neighbour. "On the contrary, our success is to be together within the EU and develop long-term partnership in favour of the stability, prosperity of the entire region," Poposki said.

At the conference sidelines, Poposki had an informal meeting with his regional and EU colleagues, including the event's chair, Greek Deputy PM and Foreign Minister  Evangelos Venizelos.