Twenty-six members of the European Parliament, led by Croatian MEP Marijana Petir, set up late Tuesday the Friends of Macedonia Group in the European Parliament.

The group, which also functioned as part of the EP’s previous composition, will serve as a bridge of friendship between the European Parliament and Macedonia in a bid to speed up the country's EU integration process.

"The group's main goal is to help Macedonia to commence the accession talks, as we believe that the country has been unfairly in the waiting room for 10 years. We consider that EU is breaching the good, regular practices when is accepts a bilateral issue to be an obstacle for launching the accession talks," Petir said, inviting all MEPs to join the group.

Asked to comment the attempts of Greek MEPs, representing the 'Golden Dawn' party, to prevent the group's establishment, Petir said her country recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name and it should be referred to by its real name. She called on Greek colleagues to join the group of friendship, as 'problems may be resolved via dialogue, not by threats or accusations,' MIA reports from Brussels.

According to Nikola Poposki, the Macedonian Foreign Minister, today's event is a step towards meeting the country’s aspiration - opening of accession talks.

"It's vital that in the European Parliament we have a group of friends championing the fact that it is necessary the European part of the commitment to be fulfilled. Macedonia’s part (of the commitment) is still connected to full implementation of the political agreement and organization of elections, as regulated in the agreement, whereas Europe’s part (of the agreement) is to draft a report afterwards containing a concrete recommendation for start of negotiations with Macedonia," Poposki told MIA.