The EU mustn’t allow North Macedonia to be a victim of bilateralisation related to identity issues, Italy’s President, Sergio Mattarella, said at Monday’s meeting in Rome with counterpart Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, according to the latter.
After the meeting, North Macedonia’s President also stated that she expected a cultured conversation with neighbours when it came to solving the Skopje-Sofia dispute. At the meeting, there was also a discussion on deepening cooperation between North Macedonia and Italy.
“The most important thing I heard from him is that he’d already talked to [the European Council’s President,] Mr Antonio Costa and to [the European Commission’s President,] Ms [Ursula] von der Leyen about what was going on with us”, she stated, adding that the Italian President had made the aforementioned comments on bilateralisation not only as a “member of the group of our friends”, but also as a great friend of the Western Balkans.