madam president in its neighbourhood policy the union's objective has always been to export stability and not to import instability
this is why i appeal to member states and candidate countries not to promote bilateral conflicts to the level of the union
being a lawyer i would like to recall that through the interim accord between greece and fyrom signed in september nineteen ninety-five greece agreed not to object to fyrom's application to international or regional organisations if made under the name referred by the united nations which is fyrom
the union's institutions refer to this country as fyrom
these provisions are legally binding in terms of international law
therefore there is no legal basis for greece to obstruct the country's accession process
decisions must be taken on the performance of the applicant country
on this note i support the debates on the progress made and the areas in which improvement is still needed
we need to talk about the merits and closely monitor the implementation of the reforms
based upon the progress made the commission proposed that the country be given a date to start negotiations
i join the commission and call on the council to provide a starting date for accession negotiations at its summit in march twenty ten
