The chairman of the opposition in the Republic of North Macedonia, SDSM Venko Filipce, stated today from the rostrum of the 31st congress of the party that North Macedonia is in diplomatic isolation, its European path is blocked, and the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party has no plan, BTA reported.
Filipce called the country's Prime Minister and VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski “a tourist in Davos who plays the role of a world leader“, against the background that the country has never been more isolated.
“While the country is bursting at the seams, Mickoski was doing expensive tourism, paid for with public money. (North) Macedonia is in diplomatic isolation. The European path is blocked, and they have no plan. Europe wrote us off, and America does not write us on. Instead of being within the perimeter of the US, with Mickoski we found ourselves outside the circle called Europe. Such diplomatic madness and confusion are not justified. This is a betrayal of national interests. Such a betrayal will be remembered by many future generations“, Filipche said in his speech to the congress.
According to him, the ruling party wants to turn the country “into a quarantine zone, a buffer zone for foreign problems just to get a pat on the back and a loan of 6 billion euros”, which SDSM will not allow.
“Do you remember what Mickoski and VMRO-DPMNE used to say when SDSM was in power? We were subordinate to Europe. He was going to bring back our pride. And what did we get? We got a government that was completely subordinated, blackmailed and bought with money and projects by (Serbian President Aleksandar) Vucic and (Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor) Orban. They reduced the country to the last hole in the Balkans with a prime minister who has no right to sign any decision without the approval of his bosses“, Filipce said.
In the closed part of the SDSM congress, which is currently taking place, the Social Democrats are analyzing the election results from the local vote, which was held in the fall of last year. The delegates' agenda also includes the election of the party's deputy chairman, after the entire party leadership resigned at Filipce's request.
Venko Filipce said that he expects the congress to pass peacefully, although days before, at a party meeting, two prominent representatives of SDSM accused him that the congress would fail due to a lack of a quorum, as well as against the background of the fact that a rift is possible in the opposition party. In a television interview, former SDSM mayor of Skopje Petre Shilegov demanded Filipche's resignation, while former director of Industrial Zones Jovan Despotov wrote on Facebook that there was discontent in the party, which was the fault of its leadership. SDSM accused Shilegov and Despotov of working for VMRO-DPMNE.
Following today's speech by SDSM leader Venko Filipche, the ruling party issued a statement.
„In his empty speech before the congress, Filipche did not explain why the party is fifth (in the local elections) in Skopje and third in (Northern) Macedonia; "did not distance himself, nor did he say a bad word about his mentor (the former prime minister of the country from SDSM) Zoran Zaev (...) did not explain why SDSM provided services to Bulgaria and Greece, imposed the French proposal, concluded a harmful agreement with Bulgaria, did not explain why they are attacking the USA, waging a political war with the United Kingdom," VMRO-DPMNE reacted with a statement.