The President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, called for unity and fight against corruption today. At the same time, she criticized the EU for the “bilateralization of the European integration process“, Radio Free Europe reported.
“It is time for a new spring for our Republic, for a return to its republican roots,“ said Siljanovska-Davkova from Meckin Kamen in Krusevo, where 122 years of the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising and the Krusevo Republic of 1903 are being celebrated, as well as 81 years of the first meeting of ASNOM (Antifascist Assembly for the People's Liberation of Macedonia).
Today is marked as a public holiday in the Republic of North Macedonia - Republic Day or Ilinden.
In her speech on the occasion of the holiday, Siljanovska-Davkova said that Macedonian citizens expect justice and freedom and that the time has come to eradicate the weeds of corruption and crime in the country.
„A deep look at the state reveals in recent years and decades endemic corruption and organized crime, weak institutions, strong parties and influential individuals, extra-institutional decision-making, partocracy as a threat to parliamentary democracy," said Davkova.
In her address, she criticized the EU, noting that in the past period the European Union has allowed the bilateralization of the European integration process and that it has often changed the rules that a candidate country must fulfill in order to be accepted into the EU. Silyanovska-Davkova accused the EU of having double standards in the accession process.
„It is a legitimate question whether and to what extent today's EU, or its highest representatives, are connected to the ideals of its ideological creators and founders, said Silyanovska-Davkova, adding that „The EU is not immune to the crisis of leadership and democratic deficit“.