Surprised by the reaction of Greece, which called his words a provocation that “the Macedonian issue must finally find its solution, because it has not been resolved, has been smoldering, has been going on for centuries and still exists”, expressed in an interview from New York for MRT, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski.
“My goal and messages are clear. As Prime Minister, it would be irresponsible and a betrayal of the Macedonian people, of the Macedonian citizens, to say that the Macedonian issue is closed in conditions when we are not part of the European family, but have set out on the path long before some countries that are now members (of the EU). This is an open question,” said Mickoski, who explained that he did not understand why Greece reacted, since his statement, made at a meeting with expatriates in New Jersey, did not specifically name anyone.
According to him, the main reason why North Macedonia has not yet started negotiations with the EU is the bilateral issues, “which should not be criteria and conditions.”
“A more real question is that we cannot say that the Macedonian issue is closed, since the Court of Human Rights has decisions for Macedonians on the other side of the border, in Bulgaria, who say that Bulgarian society does not respect the basic human rights of the Macedonian community there,” said Mickoski.
When asked if he had made any contacts with the new government of Bulgaria, Mickoski replied that he had no communication “with the new prime minister of the eastern neighbor,” but he would be happy to met with him and will sit down to talk “to see what the possibilities are”.
“My only message will be that if the treaties are valid and must be respected for us, then they must be valid and respected for them (Bulgaria) as well and that bilateral issues should not be part of the negotiation process. It is clear to me that what Osmani and Kovachevski accepted is a problem and that this will always be set as a condition. But if this condition applies to us, then all the other conditions of those treaties that were signed before must also apply, such as the Human Rights Resolution, such as the Treaty of (Friendship and) Good Neighborhood. All this should be an obligation for all countries,” said Mickoski.
Regarding his meetings in the US with Alexander Casanoff, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Balkans, and with Trump's envoy for special missions Richard Grenell, at which the European integration of North Macedonia and the reaction to the relations between Skopje, Sofia and Brussels were discussed, Mickoski said that so far he has not met “an objective diplomat who does not sympathize” with what North Macedonia has done in ”the name of European integration”.
”The question is how to reach the goal and how to dignify this process, which was blocked due to the adventurous policy of the previous government, which believed that everything would be forgiven them if they signed everything that was put on the table... and created an objective problem for European integration. Now we have a Sisyphean task to overcome all this, because our eastern neighbor (Bulgaria) is in the European family, and we are outside it and we want to enter this family. In all this ambition, we have chosen the strategy of presenting our positions as strongly and clearly as possible and to make friends, build friendships and find allies in order to find a worthy solution, for which I am optimistic. We continue to build friendships, to look for allies and to be as clear and vocal as possible in this process and I believe that if we have real and objective European “merit-based“ criteria that are based on achievements and not on bilateral issues, then the accession process of (North) Macedonia will finally be liberated after two decades," said Mickoski.
Regarding the discussion in North Macedonia about the reasons for his presence in the US and the results of the announced meetings, Mickoski specified that the delegation from North Macedonia had received an invitation from the Organizing Committee for the inauguration of Donald Trump, and the purpose of “what the opposition is doing” is the invitation, and not to turn the results of his visit there into the main topic, but “the essence of the visit will be seen in the next period”.