Brussels urges Macedonia not to waste time after early elections

15/04/2008

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Commission urged Macedonia on Monday (April 14th) to form a new government as soon as possible after early parliamentary elections on June 1st. "We encourage the new government to focus immediately on the many important reforms on the road to EU accession in order to fulfil by autumn the specific benchmarks outlined by the Commission," said Krisztina Nagy, spokeswoman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. Macedonia's parliament decided to dissolve itself after the country failed to receive an invitation to join NATO at the Alliance's summit in Bucharest earlier this month. (Utrinski Vesnik - 15/04/08; AFP, Makfax, A1, Reuters - 14/04/08)