Macedonia's membership to the European Union will happen, but a start of negotiations is necessary without being hindered by bilateral issues, Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki said Wednesday in Brussels, who is set to attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Council.

Prior to the meeting, where Macedonia's progress report in the process of joining NATO will be reviewed, Poposki said that Macedonia's goal since the start of the High Level Accession Dialogue (HLAD) with the European Commission was to deliver essential reforms in sensitive domains in order to reduce the period needed for negotiating.

"This is our goal and we expect it to be acknowledged by the EC in the forthcoming report on the country's progress. The third HLAD round will give us a chance to present the measures taken and to confirm that Macedonia has never been better prepared to launch negotiations," the FM urged.

Commenting the chances of getting a date for start of EU membership talks in December, Minister Poposki said the Macedonian government was making attempts to boost the communication with Greece and with other EU members in order to establish a climate where there would be no motives to block Macedonia's accession, MIA reported from Brussels.

"I believe that the start of negotiations is a start of the accession process and there should be no additional bilateral hurdles in the process. It is in the interest of the European Commission and all EU members to maintain this momentum of Macedonia's accession to EU. We are implementing the reforms to better prepare our society for the upcoming membership," Poposki noted.