The goal of official Sofia is to create a "new, modern Macedonian nation, resting on the roots of the Bulgarian nation", believes the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski, quoted by the media in Skopje, BTA reported.
According to him, the working version of the country's progress report, prepared by the rapporteur for North Macedonia in the European Parliament Thomas Weiss, "is important and significant, because for the first time a specific Macedonian identity and a specific Macedonian language are mentioned", but "unfortunately, some of his colleagues who come from GERB are proposing (to this) to add "current".
"This It is not a surprise, because from the very beginning of the adventure adopted by the previous government, we have been saying that behind all this lies the creation of an artificial nation - the current Macedonian nation, this is the essence. I had intensive conversations with several influential figures in the EP and in Brussels, and today I will continue to say that if this happens, it will once again be confirmed what we have been saying all along - that this is not about a few hundred of our fellow citizens who say about themselves that they are from the Bulgarian community, but about an attempt to create a new, artificial, current Macedonian nation, which rests on the roots of the Bulgarian nation. I will not accept this and I will reject it. Because this has nothing to do with European or any other values,” Mickoski told journalists after attending the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the State Statistical Office in the country.
Mickoski believes that Europe now has a chance to “repair the historical injustice” inflicted by the previous government of North Macedonia with the adoption and signing of the country's negotiating framework with the EU, which stipulates as a condition for opening negotiations with the EU that Bulgarians in the country must be included in the constitution.
Asked whether Bulgarian MEPs have the opportunity to change proposals from Weiss' draft report, Mickoski said that “if anyone has the illusion that they are sitting idly by, they are lying.”
„But the truth is coming to the surface. And the truth is that official Sofia has remained a blind hostage to Zhivkovism,“ said Mickovski.
The draft report on the country's progress is to be discussed by the EP Foreign Policy Committee on June 4, and its content has caused a number of reactions not only in North Macedonia.
According to the rapporteur for the country in the EP, he tried to prepare a balanced report, but did not deny that Bulgarian MEPs expressed disagreement with texts in it.
In an interview for “360 degrees” Weitz stated that in the draft document, “there are several references to the recognition of the Macedonian language and Macedonian identity”, but he tried to comply with the proposals of the Bulgarian MEPs and the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia “is even mentioned once specifically as a Bulgarian community”.