"It is an unnatural situation that six years after FYR of Macedonia was granted candidate status, the accession talks have not been launched yet," Orban declared last week, after a meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski in Skopje. 

The delay has been due to the dispute with Greece over the former Yugoslav republic's name. It coincides with the northern Greek region of Macedonia, which Greece feels may inspire future territorial claims on behalf of the EU hopeful. "It's not my job to take a position on Macedonia's relations with another country, but my job is to represent the interests of Europe," Orban, whose country currently holds the EU Presidency, stated, as cited by the Canadian Press.Gruevski said Orban's visit to Skopje was "a strong political signal that the Hungarian presidency is effectively devoted to continuing the process of European enlargement."

Source: NOVINITE Sofia News Agency