The Republic of North Macedonia has taken responsibility for the implementation of the Prespa Treaty and fulfilled its obligations under it ahead of schedule, said the country's president, Gordana Siljanovska, in her first interview after being elected to the post and taking the oath, refusing to pronounce the constitutional name of the state, which caused tension with Greece, BTA reported.
Silyanovska stated that in the text of the presidential oath in the Electoral Law, the name of the state has not been changed, and despite the fact that in the constitution it is the Republic of North Macedonia, only the Republic of Macedonia is written in the law. Siljanovska explained that during the oath she only spoke Macedonia (i.e. without "Severna") but did not violate the Treaty of Prespa. She said that she did not want to annoy anyone but behaved "Socratically" and that she did not notice that the Greek ambassador had left the hall during the swearing-in as she was busy with the event and did not think who is in the hall.
In her interview with TV Channel 5, Siljanovska stated that “Greece or the EU should advise Bulgaria”, since the Prespa Treaty states that history, culture, heritage and language will not be negotiated.
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„These days I hear that both treaties must be respected. I am not violating the Prespa Treaty, it says that we must change the documents (for identity) after the opening of the negotiation chapters. The EU decides when to open the negotiating chapters. Did someone say that? Greece should have said it. Not only did we not open the negotiating chapters (after signing the Prespa Treaty), but now we have to change the constitution to start negotiations. Not a single article in the Treaty (of friendship and good neighborliness) with Bulgaria says that we should change the constitution. I told Macron that his philosophical thesis about the EU is exceptional, but philosophy cannot do without principles and values. The EU has provided for sanctions if any member state violates basic values and principles. "Without fundamental values, there is no EU, as a philosophy of democracy," said Siljanovska.
When asked if in the next five years she will pronounce the name "Northern Macedonia", Silianoska said: You all know that I am the president of this country, which is called that according to the constitution. Why do I have to repeat it? Do the Greek colleagues keep saying Hellenic Republic? No. I respect contracts. It is not true that we violate them, but someone else does. I believe that we took a very responsible approach to the Prespa Agreement, we fulfilled our obligations even before the deadlines expired, but I am not sure that Greece did. There you will see (signs that say) “Skopje“, “FYROM“ (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), but not North Macedonia".
Siljanovska stated that the meetings held with the ambassadors of the countries accredited to the Republic of North Macedonia, which she started holding after her election as president on May 8 and will end next week, are “mainly protocol”, that up to this point there have been appointed only one adviser - on foreign policy, although by law he has the right to five, and soon he will fill the three seats from the presidential quota in the Security Council, who will be experts "on global problems, on climate change and on European integration".
It has become a practice for ambassadors in the Republic of North Macedonia to interfere in the internal affairs of the country, said the country's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, quoted by BTA, regarding the words of EU Ambassador David Gear that "dissolution of the Judicial Council and the Council of Prosecutors is an interference in the judicial system", and of the US Ambassador Angela Ageler, according to which "separation of powers should not be violated".
The dissolution of the Judicial Council and the Council of Prosecutors in the Republic of North Macedonia, in order to restore citizens' trust in the judicial system, is one of the pre-election promises of the government of Hristijan Mickoski, and at a conference on progress in implementing the mission's recommendations for the EU's assessment by the Judicial Council yesterday, US Ambassador Angela Ageler warned that there are steps to truly restructure the Judicial Council that have not been taken.
„This is an important weapon in the arsenal that will be needed to truly transform the justice system in North Macedonia into an institution that serves its citizens, that protects the innocent and punishes those who believe they are above the law,” stressed Ageler, the media in North Macedonia recall.
EU Ambassador David Gere said the dissolution of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Council would cause serious concern in Brussels.
The Minister of Justice of North Macedonia, Igor Filkov, for his part, welcomed the statements of Gear and Ageler, TV Thelma reported.
The Ministry of Justice informs that there is a ready draft of the Law on the Judicial Council, prepared by an expert group, on which Filkov plans to start a broad and public debate, after which the bill will be submitted for an opinion to the EC and the Venice Commission.