The position of the government of North Macedonia on the changes to the country's constitution remains unchanged and Bulgarians will not be included in the country's basic law - a condition for starting negotiations with the EU - without guarantees that the process will not be accompanied by “new blockades and bilateral conditions”, said in an interview with MRT 1 Prime Minister Hristian Mickoski.
According to him, the country is ready to comply with the commitments made, but “expects the same from its neighbors and the EU”.
“Do we all respect international law? We respect it. If we respect it and if We are aware of the commitments made by the previous government (of North Macedonia), no matter how disastrous they are, they are made by our government, regardless of who is the prime minister... regardless of whether it is by his will or not. The question is what future awaits the country. As bitter as all this is, this is the reality”, said Mickoski.
He reiterated his thesis that he expects Bulgaria to comply with the conventions it has ratified.
„We also demand that they be aware of the commitments that some of their (Bulgarian) governments have made. If a government of our eastern neighbor has made a commitment, by signing and ratifying resolutions and conventions for the protection of human rights, to comply with the decisions of the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights. And this is to allow the Macedonian community to register an organization in which it can communicate culturally and educationally. This community must have its own representative in the Council of Ministers for Minority Rights, which operates within the government of our eastern neighbor. This is a principled position”, stated Mickoski.
In his words, after the EU representatives assure that “they will not allow another veto, following bilateral conditions and that it recognizes the Macedonian identity, language”, these assurances should be formalized through conclusions.
“If so, if you really think so, then please accept it as a conclusion, so that we can go before the citizens and say: Look, people, do we want to be in the EU? We do. Did we ask the EU for guarantees for our identity, language, that there will be no bilateral veto? Here, the Council brought a new conclusion for us... On the other hand, look, our eastern neighbor allowed the OMO “Ilinden – Pirin” to register, now we have a representative in the Council of Ministers for Minority Rights in this government, etc. Which means that "Now we have guarantees that can be trusted. Okay, then we can discuss what we will do as a government," said Mickoski, according to whom no one can expect the country's government to enter the European integration process "just like that," after the previous government's decisions endangered the country's European integration path.
Regarding the information circulating in the country about a possible "non-paper" from EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia announced that no such document had been received.
“From the information we have, what the outlines (of this document) would look like, at the moment (it) does not depend on the EC, but on the Council, on the member states. So the EC can make a proposal, but still, for all this to function, the member states must agree. We cannot just follow this process, it does not depend on us. If there is political will among the member states, they should accept the proposal that will come from the EC to facilitate the accession process, or some new methodology, or, as they say, “gradual integration“. That is, integration that would have certain protective mechanisms...That you cannot use the structural funds for everything. There was an idea that the Western Balkan countries would not have the right to veto, there was an idea that we would not have a European Commissioner. So, all this is put on the table as an idea, but it does not have any form yet. At least that depends on us, the member states must agree on any changes”, said Mickoski in the interview for MRT1.