The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is to arrive in Skopje on Sunday at the start of her tour to the Western Balkans. She will meet the President of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski on Sunday in Skopje, while the next morning, on Monday, the von der Leyen will meet with Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski, the EU Delegation said in a press release.
Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European Affairs Bojan Marichikj says that von der Leyen is visiting Skopje in order to discuss the necessary reforms and additional funds the country should receive as aid from the EU and motivation for the reforms, as well as the obligations it needs to fulfil to complete this phase of accession and move to the second stage, i.e., opening the negotiations cluster and ending the screening process.
According to Marichikj, she is expected to announce the EC progress reports on candidate countries, which is scheduled to be released on November 8, as well as to present the basic features of the EU’s Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, which is expected to be published by the end of the year.
