The main foreign policy priority of the new Macedonian Government is full integration into the European Union, and that process is key to realizing national interests, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Timcho Mutsunski, in an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE, the MFA said.

Regarding the blockade from Bulgaria, Mutsunski emphasizes that the Government remains on the position of delayed application of the constitutional amendments.

Referring to the European integration process, he notes that there is "unfair bilateralization and double standards that have become part of the process of accession to the European Union".

He reminds that the country has done more than any other to join the Union, and he connected the blockades from our neighbors with the interests of third parties who do not want a European future for the Western Balkans.

- We are a country that received candidate status in 2005 and we have very positive recommendations from the European Commission for opening negotiations, but unfortunately we are not there yet. This is something we deserve and we hope to achieve as soon as possible, Mutsunski noted.

He adds that as a country we made many concessions to meet European requirements, and the new Government is ready to meet the other conditions for approaching EU standards.

- These are the criteria by which we want to be evaluated. It is not fair to evaluate our country based on subjective bilateral standards that have nothing to do with the EU. When there is a history book about the decision-making and enlargement of the EU, we will be the chapter about the unfair bilateralization, says Mutsunski.

The interview was made during Mutsunski's visit to Madrid, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with Spain. He and his Spanish counterpart assessed the relations as friendly, with emphasis on Spain's strong support for faster integration of the country into the EU.