The organization of free and fair elections alongside the implementation of the urgent reform priorities will help Macedonia get back on its path to the opening of negotiations for EU membership, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said Monday after meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Poposki in Skopje.

“I hope you will manage to make important reform efforts, mainly in a bid to strengthen the state of law. What is now quite crucial is the realization of free and fair elections. If such elections are administered, then Macedonia is on the right track to EU integration and negotiations would be indeed opened. For me, this is extremely positive and the correct way,” Kurz stated voicing support for Macedonia’s EU integration bid.

The Austrian diplomat said today the two countries, Austria and Macedonia, had signed an action plan for cooperation in 2017 covering several areas, such as EU integration, cooperation as part of the Berlin Process and also as part of Austria’s upcoming OSCE chairmanship in 2017.

Minister Kurz once again thanked Macedonia for its activities to close the Balkan migrant route. “(The closure) has significantly reduced the pressure of flow at the Austrian border.”

Macedonian FM Poposki said his country was thankful for Austria’s support.

“We are thankful for the support we are receiving from Austria on our path to the EU. This is vital because it is considered our highest strategic priority. Austria is a strong and convincing supporter of this process. We hope and we are working intensively, as soon as possible, to start negotiating with an emphasis on the fundamental chapters 23 and 24,” noted Poposki.

Minister Kurz said his optimism involving the start of negotiations with the EU, despite Greece's blockade due to the name issue, after credible elections were held in Macedonia, was based on some positive developments in Greece and on Athens' interest in a stable Macedonia.

"I'm optimistic because the European Commission (progress) report doesn't note only shortcomings and required reform projects, it also shows that some progress has been made. It's a good thing that a positive development has been detected in Greece as well. The name issue hasn't been resolved yet, of course, but in Greece there is interest in a stable Macedonia that is becoming integrated into the EU, which is something that I appreciate very much. If these elections were fair and well-administered, then this effort would be taken into account by the EU countries," stressed the Austrian Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs.

As regards the migrant crisis, Poposki said the two ministers discussed different possible scenarios pledging they wouldn't allow chaotic scenes, like the ones in 2015, to happen ever again.

"We have to be prepared together to address all possible scenarios in order to provide humane and safe treatment of migrants and refugees. On the other hand, we also have to ensure that the EU itself is stable and secure so as to guard the Schengen zone," noted FM Poposki.

Kurz said he expected the Macedonia border, as part of the Western Balkan migrant route, to remain closed. In case the EU-Turkey agreement is breached, he added, it will be of vital importance for Vienna a clear political line to be drawn here.

Asked to comment on his attendance at yesterday’s rally in Skopje of the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE, Minister Kurz said his presence was not at all controversial. “I attended the rally in my capacity as member of the European People’s Party,” he said underlying he stood behind everything he had said and had urged the citizens of Macedonia to vote in the elections. “For whom they will vote, it is their decision and their decision only.”