„It should to include the insignificant Bulgarian minority in the preamble of our constitution. And we are talking about a few hundred of our citizens, not a few hundred thousand. We are talking about about 800-900 citizens of my country who define themselves as part of the Bulgarian community.
This was stated by the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Hristijan Mitskoski, quoted by NOVA.
His statement came during the 20th European Summit in Salzburg, dedicated to the future and reforms of the European Union. “The preamble of our constitution is descriptive and states that this is the country of such and such a nation. Someone in the international community would say that this is routine work that we need to do in order to move forward. It would be so simple if this was the first such request (to change the constitution – ed.), but it is the tenth in a row”, Mickoski said.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the frustration of the Macedonian citizens is constantly growing precisely because of the new conditions that are being put before Skopje. Mickoski pointed out that his party enjoys stable electoral support, and his government has the support of almost 2/3 of the representatives in the parliament.
„And now I have to face my fellow citizens and say: Look my dear fellow citizens, my students, we have to change the constitution again, but as you know this has become commonplace”. No one understands us. We are a small landlocked country in the heart of the Balkans, and we have to take this step if we want to start negotiations," the Prime Minister said.
Prof. Dimitrov: It is frivolous for political newcomers from the RSM to imagine that they can impose their will on Bulgaria
He again said that the rights of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria had been violated and the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg had repeatedly sanctioned Sofia in relation to this issue. “What is happening to the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. And we're not talking about a few hundred people, we're talking about tens of thousands of people. Have anyone's rights been violated that we have to make these changes over and over and over again? Who are we politicians to judge whether someone's rights have been violated? On the contrary, we can only abuse this question.
In Europe there is an institution to judge whether someone's rights have been violated or not. The name of this institution is the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights. And what has this court decided in the last few years? 14 decisions in favor of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, later I will explain why the court made these decisions, and 0 times in favor of the Bulgarian minority in Macedonia. 14 by 0.
And now I wonder why we need to change our constitution, given that human rights are not respected. And what should we say about the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, which is not only not part of the constitution, but they are also not allowed to register their Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), added Mickoski.
The Prime Minister emphasized that despite all the difficulties, 75% of the citizens of the RSM continue to support the country's European future.
„So, there is no argument with which I can stand before my citizens and say: Look, you have to accept this (constitutional changes – ed.) and no one can guarantee you that in 6 months someone another, to the east of us, will want nothing more. Why am I afraid? This is not a fear based on illusions, it is a fear based on evidence and past experience of the last 25 years.
Why are we afraid? In our negotiating framework with the EU, for the first and hopefully last time, we have a bilateral dispute placed before the Copenhagen criteria. None of the previous Warsaw Pact countries were in a similar situation. That is why we, as a new government, want to be constructive, we want to talk. We want to sit down and explain the frustration of our citizens who feel betrayed.
Despite all the difficulties in the past, three quarters of my country's citizens want to be part of the EU. Not Eurosceptics, but pro-Europeans are the overwhelming majority in the RSM. We are talking about more than more than 75%”, Mickoski said.