United States Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland urged Macedonian political leaders on Monday to move fast and implement the agreement brokered by European Commissioner Johannes Hahn on 2^nd of June, which would open way for overcoming the political crisis and moving ahead with talks with Greece to settle the name issue and finally have Macedonia admitted to NATO. Nuland met with the leaders of the four largest parties in Macedonia, and made a joint statement with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

"Now is the time to bring this crisis to an end. We in the US are very pleased to be working with the European Union, our Ambassador Baily is working in lockstep with EU commissioner Hahn to try to bring the parties together, around a package of understandings that would allow Macedonia to get back on its chosen path of Euro-Atlantic integration, of growth, good clean Government, rule of law, free media, all of those things that are important for a state. We strongly support the package of agreements that were completed on Jiune 2nd. There are only a few issues left to finish. Commissioner Hahn will be here tomorrow. We will strongly support those talks tomorrow. I spent my day talking to all the key stakeholders, including the Prime Minister, about how to narrow the gaps so that this agreement can be reached, so that the country can move on, with the undertakings that are made there, working on the media requirement, working on the judicial requirement, addressing the concerns, addressing the electoral environment in run up to the Spring," Nuland said, speaking about the agreement that provides institutional resolution to the wiretapping crisis, return of the opposition SDSM party to Parliament and holding early elections by the end of April 2016. The agreement also includes a robust reform package, along the lines of recommendations made by German expert Reinhard Priebe, that would improve work in the state security system, the judiciary, change rules about the media environment and independent oversight institutions.

Implementation of the agreement was stuck over SDSM's insistence that the Government must resign before the elections are held, and ten days ago SDSM leader Zoran Zaev announced that his party has withdrawn from the agreement. Nuland met with Zaev, as well as the leaders of the two parties representing ethnic Albanians, Ali Ahmeti and Menduh Thaci. At her statement with Prime Minister Gruevski, she said that for her talks, she concludes there is will to implement the agreement, but that the sooner it's done, the sooner the United States could begin work on bringing Macedonia into NATO, a process that has been blocked by Greece and its insistance that Macedonia must change its name.

"That will allow us to get back to the business that the Prime Minister and I have been working on together for many years, which is supporting Macedonia's aspiration to join the NATO Alliance. That, as you know, that is going to require complex negotiations with the new Government in Greece on the name issue, under the auspices of United Nations negotiator Matthew Nimetz. We are prepared to continue our strong advocacy for a good resolution there, as soon as you all reach an agreement to move this country forward and settle the political crisis", Assistant Secretary Nuland added.

Prime Minister Gruevski said that he and Nuland spoke about the urgent need to remove the obstacles on the Macedonian way to Euro-Atlantic integrations. "We discussed about our strategic goals, about our goal to join NATO as soon as possible and to urgently open EU accession negotiations. In light of the NATO summit planned for Warsaw in 2016, and given that we have met membership criteria and given the involvement of the members of the Macedonian Army in a number of peace-keeping missions, we believe we have the full right to insist that all obstacles surrounding our membership are lifted immediately. Talks between Greece and Macedonia over the differences about our name should continue. We need a constructive approach to efficiently solve the differences that are forced upon us, and we need good will and desire to conclude the talks successfully, along democratic principles, and respecting the international law. With Assistant Secretary Nuland we also discussed the domestic political situation and the challenges the Republic of Macedonia faces. Euro-Atlantic values will be our guiding star in resolving the current political difficulties, which can only be resolved through a legal, institutional and political process, in accordance with the Constitutional order and the established principles of democracy and rule of law", Prime Minister Gruevski said at the joint statement for the press.