EU preparing new enlargement methodology: Michel

President of the European Council Charles Michel said here on Friday that the future of North Macedonia is in the European Union (EU) and that he will develop strategy for opening the accession negotiations process.

"The message I want to send with this visit is that there is great interest for including the EU in the processes, that the future of North Macedonia is European and that we have to continue with the dialogue in order to reach decision," Michel said at a joint press conference after meeting President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski.

North Macedonia's bid for opening the accession negotiations with the EU was denied in October last year. This was mainly due to the opposition of France which insisted on new accession strategy and methodology to be developed before candidate countries of Albania and North Macedonia start the negotiations process for the EU membership.

Michel said the EU is preparing a new methodology for discussion in the coming weeks and EU needs also to develop a strategy for investments and economic growth for the Western Balkans.

For his part, Pendarovski said that this visit means that Michel is a big supporter of the enlargement of the EU.

"EU membership without a question is our strategic goal. We continue to work on reaching this goal. We hope that very soon, presumably in March the new enlargement methodology will be adopted and that very soon we will have positive news about our integration," Pendarovski said.