While candidates for European Union membership are being tought that rule of law and principles are very important, we have also learnt that about the importance of sheer force in the EU. Macedonia has been feeling the pressure of force during its integration, Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki said at the Friends of Europe Balkan Summit held on Tuesday in Brussels, speaking about the pressure Greece has put to block Macedonian EU integration.

MIA correspondent from the Summit, co-organized by the Friends of Europe think tank and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, reports that Poposki, who joined a panel on economic developments in the region, said that Macedonian economic reforms have worked, often outperforming even EU member states. That's why, Poposki said, Macedonia looks forward to the increase of importance of economic criteria in the integration process.

"Speaking of the focus on the economy, we in Macedonia see that glass as half full, because the per capita gross domestic product of the Western Balkans is half of the one in the European Union, and we need to make up for the difference. Our employment rate is moving upwards, which is very important and is an improvement of the situation. Considering the economic growth, Macedonia saw rates of growth higher than most EU member states, Poposki said.

Macedonian Foreign Minister also reflected on the announcement made by the newly appointed European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, that there will be no new enlargement of the Union during his five year watch. Poposki said he considers this statement to be a reflection of the opinions held by the EU public, adding that it undermines the predictability of the enlargement process. "There is lack of predictability because nobody knows whether after this five year period there will be enlargement or not".

About the domestic issues that candidate countries need to work on, Minister Poposki said that these include rule of law and improvements in the infrastructure, issues that require less diagnostics and more offering solutions from the politicians. Poposki said that Macedonia is focused on its domestic issues, due to the Greek blockade at the European Council level, and works in areas where it can have improvement regardless of the blockade.

"Things we can affect are the regulatory environment, and here we see how the World Bank ranks Macedonia as one of the top 5 reformers in the past years. We focus on bringing foreign direct investments in Macedonia, in bringing foreign companies in, given that availability of finance for us, a country that is outside of "the club", is between five and seven times smaller compared to countries that are inside the club, Poposki concluded.

Speaking at the same panel, Christian Danielsson, Director General for Enlargement at the European Commission, dismissed comments that there is a delay in the enlargement of the Union, and pointed out to the progress made by Croatia, which joined the Union, Serbia and Montenegro, which managed to open their negotiations, and Albania which gained a candidate status. Danielsson even said that he sees some interesting movements in developments in Bosnia.

"It is important to remain focused on the changes and to keep economic development as the main field of focus. Economic governance, structural reforms and potential for growth are all fundamental in the process of membership. This includes the rule of law, judiciary, fight against corruption and the functioning of the public administration. This is the only way to move the process forward, there is progress and set-backs, but in general, the Western Balkans are moving forward", Danielsson said, pointing to the Berlin Summit called by Chancellor Angela Merkel to have all Balkan leaders agree on moving the region closer to Europe.

Danielsson acknowledged that the bar for membership has been raised significantly after the first Balkan countries were accepted in the EU, and that the current crop of candidates are required to meet much stricter criteria. "There is an objective reason why the process has become harder. At the time we paid more attention to the framework, than to its implementation. We have learned our lessons, and now the focus is on implementation", Danielsson said.

Goran Svilanovic, Secretary General of the Council for regional cooperation, proposed that Balkan leaders prepare an investment framework and have the Prime Ministers directly decide between themselves. Svilanovic said that he spoke with the Prime Ministers of the four countries that were in focus of the Balkan Revival Summit, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Serbia, and they all said they are prepared to cooperate together and focus on the economy. Svilanovic also said that there should be a meeting of Western Balkan countries in March, to agree on the priority road corridors for the future investments. "If we agree the priorities in March, then there is chance to discuss the structure of all agreed projects by August 2015 in Vienna. We could have success in approving the finances for these projects, and to see the European Union and the European Commission come and invest as donors", Svilanovic said.

Danielsson didn't answer the question from the MIA correspondent about the exclusion of Macedonia from the Adriatic - Ionian Initiative and the Danube Initiative, due to the political blockade from Greece. Svilanovic, on this question, said that it remains the reality that member states decide who gets to join the EU, but that Macedonia should be admitted to these two macro-initiatives through the Council for regional cooperation. Poposki added that Macedonia is paying a price for not being part of the regional strategies prepared by the EU, but is paying a much higher price from being excluded from the EU due to the Greek blockade.

"While candidates for European Union membership are being tought that rule of law and principles are very important, we have also learnt that about the importance of sheer force in the EU. Macedonia has been feeling the pressure of force during its integration. In the past 10 years, and most particularly in the past six years, when we received positive recommendations to open the accession negotiations from the European Commission, we felt this pressure. It would be good if Macedonia becomes part of these regional strategies, but we can't do anything against the position of force used by an EU member state, Poposki said at the conclusion of the Balkan Revival Summit.