The European Parliament (EP) insisted that Macedonia stop instilling hatred against its neighbor Bulgaria.

This recommendation among others was included in the 2007 Report on Macedonia's progress towards EU membership adopted by the EP on Wednesday.

The Report pays special attention to Macedonia's relations with its neighbors especially to its problems with Albania, Bulgaria, and Greece.

The part of the report regarding Macedonia's issues with Bulgaria emphasizes the need to combat hate language against neighboring states, and the urgent need to complete the Sofia-Skopie railway line, and encourages the joint initiatives on remembering the common cultural and historical heritage.

"Bulgaria should support selflessly the Republic of Macedonia but must be clear that the anti-Bulgarian campaigns aim to hinder the progress in the bilateral relations, and undermine Macedonia's progress towards EU membership", the MEP from the European People's Party and the Bulgarian GERB party Nikolay Mladenov said.

"We see that certain circles in Macedonia make consistent efforts to worse its relations with Bulgaria. We will support Macedonia's EU integration but this support will not be unconditional. Our position is in the interest of Macedonia as well", the MEP from the Party of European Socialists and the Bulgarian Socialist Party Evgeni Kirilov stated in turn.

The EP Report also recommends that the EU start talks with Macedonia for the liberalization of the visa regime, and that accession negotiations begin before the end of 2008. These acts are considered factors contributing to the stability of the Western Balkans.

The report also calls on Macedonia and Greece to resume immediately their negotiations in order to resolve the name dispute as soon as possible.

The EP report was approved with 601 MEPs voting in favor, 52 voting against, and 30 abstaining.

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