"Nothing is decided, everything is possible", this is how the President of North Macedonia Gordana Siljanovska answered a question related to the EP's progress report on the country's path to the EU, which is to be voted on in the EP on July 8, BTA reported.
The information that the three largest parties in the European Parliament - the EPP, the Socialists and the Liberals, have reached an agreement to drop all references to "Macedonian identity" from the draft progress report on North Macedonia and "Macedonian language", quickly spread across the country and became a leading topic today.
In an interview with Kanal 5, Gordana Siljanovska stated that the amendments to Thomas Weitz's report show "the disposition of a large group of MEPs and there is nothing European and democratic in them".
According to her, the rapporteur in the European Parliament for North Macedonia, Austrian MEP Thomas Weitz, did not accidentally choose to include "these qualifications for the Macedonian language and identity" in the report.
"Then why would he write it? Because of pressure from us? Out of fear or love for us? No, this is because of the EU's constitutive documents and respect for equality," Siljanovska said.
According to her, no one from North Macedonia insisted on including "the centuries-old Macedonian identity and language" in the report, but that this was an "allusion that if there is something contemporary, modern," there is also something centuries-old.
"It is clear that languages, including ours, develop over hundreds of years. If everything was decided (in the negotiating framework), as the opposition says, why did the Bundestag adopt a resolution on the Macedonian language and identity and why did the rapporteur have to emphasize it. Because it is clear that (our language and identity) are being denied. They say that the Treaty (of Friendship and Good Neighborhood) with Bulgaria was signed in both Macedonian and Bulgarian, but this is like the official languages according to the constitutions of both countries," Siljanovska said.
"In 2008, the Venice Commission recommended that Bulgaria change its constitution and introduce guarantees for minority rights. In 2010, the Commissioner for Minority Affairs also recommended that Bulgaria change its constitution. We are talking about the principles and values on which the EU is based and about double standards. "If the EU itself denies them, this shows a serious democratic deficit," Siljanovska said, emphasizing that reforms are needed in the EU because "the EU has a serious problem."
According to her, North Macedonia's proposal for constitutional changes to come into force after North Macedonia becomes a member of the EU has been assessed as excellent by experts and many EU leaders.
"Nobody loses anything, we guarantee that we will include Bulgarians in the "others" (in the country's constitution), and they (Bulgaria) will not hinder us, so that this amendment can come into force as soon as possible. The negotiating framework does not specify when we have to make the constitutional changes," Siljanovska said.
Asked about the other leading topic in the country - the words of European Commissioner Marta Kos, who during her joint press conference with the country's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski stated that "EU membership is the best way to protect the identity, culture and language of Macedonians".
"Identity, in my opinion, can never become the subject of a political decision. Identity is something we carry in our souls and hearts. Identity is how we feel, how we feel about our Homeland. Identity is how we care for our tradition. For example, the monasteries in North Macedonia, the pogacha, the tavče-gravčeto, the pinjur or the stuffed peppers, for example how we maintain traditional costumes, what relationships we build with the elderly in the country, our attitude towards preservation, towards the language, and no one can take that away from you," said the EU Commissioner for Enlargement in response to a journalistic question, which caused numerous reactions in North Macedonia.
"I do not want to believe that identity can really be recognized through ajvar, wine, pinjur and the like, I think that the statement of European Commissioner Kos is accidental or unfortunate. But if in our homeland there are people in the highest positions - prime ministers, presidents, who so cooperatively declare that Gotse Delchev was Bulgarian or that we have the same language, that we are one people, then we will hear such stories too", said Silyanovska.
According to her, in the founding documents of the EU, which the European Commissioners should be familiar with, there are clear parameters for what identity is.
"The Charter of Fundamental Rights clearly states that the EU will respect the national and cultural identity of all nations and states, their dignity and integrity. Unity in diversity", specified Silyanovska.