It would be important for the stability of the Balkans were Macedonia to be allowed to join the EU and NATO, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after meeting his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski for talks in Budapest on Wednesday.

Hungary is committed to the stability of South-Eastern Europe and considers it a mistake that the Euro-Atlantic community has failed to resolve the issue of Macedonia’s European Union and NATO membership over the past 7-8 years, said the Hungarian Prime Minister at a press conference held together with his Macedonian colleague.

In the context of Macedonia’s dispute over its name with Greece, Prime Minister Orbán said that it was inappropriate for a member state to set the dispute's resolution as a precondition for starting EU accession talks.

The Macedonian premier thanked Hungary for supporting his country's EU and NATO accession process. He said the name dispute was now the only obstacle to starting accession talks, as the country has fulfilled all other membership criteria. Macedonia is making efforts to resolve the issue, Prime Minister Gruevski said, adding that this should not be set as a precondition for starting accession talks. With reforms implemented in the past years, it should now be allowed to have a date set for the start of talks, he said.

On the topic of bilateral economic relations, Prime Minister Orbán said that a joint economic committee had been set up and would meet in January next year to explore further business cooperation possibilities. Prime Minister Gruevski said Hungarian firms are welcome to invest in Macedonia that offers to foreign investors low tax brackets among incentives.

He praised the Hungarian economy's performance, which he called "remarkable" amid the current difficult situation in Europe.

(Prime Minister’s Office)