Brussels, July 19 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Ranking EU officials hailed the progress towards signing a good-neighbourliness treaty between Bulgaria and Macedonia after the Parliament in Skopje opened debates on the draft treaty.

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, said the EU is "glad to see that footsteps have been made, especially goodneighbourly steps that we welcome". She was speaking at a joint news conference held with Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov and Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani after the 13th EU-Macedonia Stabilization and Association Council.

EU Commission Johannes Hahn expressed appreciation that the Macedonian government "is trying to reach out to its neighbours in order to overcome difficulties of the past and to make successful moves towards further European integration". "I am very confident that the next successful steps will follow very soon," he said.