EC PRESIDENT ROMANO PRODI HANDS OVER EC QUESTIONNAIRE FOR MACEDONIA

At a ceremony held Friday in the Macedonian Government, European Commission President Romano Prodi formally handed over the European Commission Questionnaire for Macedonia to Prime Minister Hari Kostov. "The Questionnaire is not a bureaucratic process, but a useful instrument, which presents the situation in a certain country. It is not an investigative process, but a dialogue. We want to know who you are and what you do", Prodi said at the joint press conference with PM Kostov. The Macedonian Prime Minister gave an assurance that the country would make efforts to answer the EU Questionnaire in time. As Prodi stated, when answering the Questionnaire, the most important issues are reforms in the police and judicial system, democratic reforms, but there is also a necessity for existence of an efficient model for the economic life, which is coordinated with the market economy and European rules. Prodi also had an address in the Macedonian Parliament, in which he said that EU accession is not and can't be the objective of the Government itself, regardless of its political affiliation. "This is and should be the goal of the entire country, of all its political forces, of all citizens, with the mobilization of all resources", Prodi stressed. As stated by Vice-Premier Radmila Sekerinska, the Questionnaire included around 3,000 questions, with a number of sub-questions, bringing the total number to 4,000.