If Brussels is ready to find a constructive solution for the Republic of North Macedonia to continue with its European integration, the country's government is ready to “respond positively to such a request”, otherwise the conclusion is that “the state and the Balkans are not in the focus of this Brussels administration”.
This is the position of the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski, days before his participation in the European Union-Western Balkans summit, dariknews.bg reported.
“We are carrying out the reforms in accordance with Europe's monitoring and we will continue like this. We are not a danger, we are under the EU umbrella and since there are politicians in Brussels who have decided to be hostages of politicians who still think like in the Middle Ages, instead of looking to the 21st and 22nd centuries, we have no intention of making any more concessions while we are the government. If they find another government, let them bring it in, let them make concessions. This government will not make such concessions, because it is not an argument “you know, that's how things are”. This argument leads us to where we are today, it leads the EU to where it should not be," said Mickoski, who today attended the launch of a kindergarten expansion in the village of Tarintsi in the Karbintsi municipality.
His position was expressed in response to a journalist's question about whether he expects “any movement regarding the country's accession to the EU before his departure for Brussels on Tuesday”.
Mickoski reiterated that North Macedonia “will continue to promote European values and do its homework” and that the country has a foreign and defense policy fully harmonized with the EU.
In his words, “on the principle of Bulgaria, and in the past also of Greece, every day in the EU one country imposes a veto on another”, which is becoming a practice ”and this is not good”.
For the implementation of “the same promise” that North Macedonia will move forward towards the EU, the country has made “countless concessions”, but is constantly faced with “reactualization of the veto”, believes the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timcho Mucunski.
”What we expect and what we say to the EU leaders, the member states and all our strategic partners is that we must draw a clear path for how our negotiations towards full membership will proceed. What is expected of us and what we must do in order to have a predictable and secure path. I am not saying that finding such a solution will be easy for us as a country, or for the EU, but such a solution that provides security and predictability will be, above all, the best for us and will be very important for the trust that the EU wants to create in the region”, said Timcho Mucunski at a press conference today.
He pointed out that in his international appearances in recent months, mainly aimed at EU member states, both he and the country's Prime Minister Mickoski have presented their point of view on how to find a solution.
„During this period, we remained fully aligned with the EU's common foreign and security policy, we became the first country in the region to sign a Strategic Agreement and a Security Agreement with the EU, we adopted, probably the best, reform program in the region. We have shown that we are committed to the path (towards the EU) but at the same time we expect the other side to show the same commitment, sincerity and, above all, principle towards us as a country.
Especially in foreign policy, we have a very clear approach and the approach is what we indicate – is this (the constitutional changes) the last concession expected of us? Are we sure that if the constitutional changes happen, we will no longer be subject to a new, potential veto, again based on bilateral problems”, said Mucunski.
At the EU-Western Balkans summit next week, the delegation will be led by Hristijan Mickoski, and during his visit to Brussels, “bilateral meetings with senior representatives of the EU and the member states” are also planned.