NATO, EU Ties Must Deepen, Says North Macedonia’s Speaker

Current challenges also require raising the level of the unique and essential partnership with the European Union in order to strengthen its strategic complementarity with NATO.

All member states and their parliaments should pay particular attention to the NATO-EU Structured Dialogue, which covers resilience, protection of critical infrastructure and strengthening defence capacities, Parliament Speaker Afrim Gashi said at a meeting with the Head of the Italian Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Lorenzo Cesa, in Rome on Friday, CE Report quotes MIA.

Gashi extended gratitude to the Friends of EU enlargement, including the Italian Republic, highlighting the vocal and consistent support from Italy for the country's integration process into the EU, the Parliament said in a press release.

Cesa praised the organization of the NATO PA Standing Committee meeting in Skopje, where participants showed that membership in the Alliance is more than security, it is about sharing and protecting values ​​and advocating for shared goals.

In this context, he highlighted the country's commitment to defence spending and modernization of the defence forces, maintaining the threshold of 2 percent of GDP for that purpose. Cesa, reiterating the ongoing and open support for the country's membership in the European Union, pointed out that the enlargement should take place as soon as possible, especially given the geopolitical developments on a daily basis.

Interlocutors agreed that dynamic bilateral relations and mutual support at the multilateral level are an excellent basis for deepening parliamentary cooperation and intensifying communication between MPs in all spheres of parliamentary diplomacy, reads the press release.