“The progress report on North Macedonia in the European Parliament cries out for a prosecutor's office“, former ambassador to North Macedonia Alexander Yordanov, who also published a book “Mission Macedonia”, told NOVA NEWS.
The report was postponed after it became clear that information from it had leaked to the authorities in Skopje. Yordanov commented that the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski had quoted passages from the draft report even before it was adopted, which clearly shows that there had been a leak of internal information.
According to Yordanov, the author of the report – MEP Thomas Weitz from the Greens group – acted in close coordination with the Macedonian authorities. The text included a controversial formulation about “a centuries-old Macedonian identity and language“, which Yordanov described as a gross substitution of the historical truth.
“This report is worthless – there are nearly 300 proposals for changes to it. This means that it is useless“, commented Yordanov, explaining that Weitz bypassed the usual practice of preparing compromise texts between political groups in the European Parliament.
In his first interview after taking office as a member of the Committee on Dossiers, Alexander Yordanov also outlined his priorities in his new role. According to him, the committee should be transformed into an Institute of National Remembrance, following the example of the Baltic states.
“In 35 years of democracy, there has been no national museum for the crimes of communism. There is no memorial sign in Belene, and Buzludzha still stands as a cultural monument“, said Yordanov.
He insisted on greater publicity in the work of the commission and called for information to reach schools, universities and young people.
Yordanov placed particular focus on the role of the creative intelligentsia during communism, which, according to him, shaped public opinion while it was connected to the State Security structures.
“We need to read the page from the past truly so that we can finally close it. The ghosts of communism should not rule anymore“, he concluded.