By “opening” the issue of language, through the European Union's progress report on the Republic of North Macedonia, the country's government has wasted “the largest negotiating capital”, believes the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia, Buyar Osmani, BTA reported.
According to him, attempts to impose the issue of language in the EP are harmful to the country's national interests and have been “politically instrumentalized for political dividends” by the VMRO-DPMNE government.
In an interview for the program “360 degrees” on MRT 1 Osmani stated that the possible deletion of language references from Thomas Weitz's report on the progress of North Macedonia “does not represent a fundamental problem, because this body does not have a legally binding role”.
Asked about Mickoski's words that “in a Taliban way, the Macedonian identity and the Macedonian language are being erased from the Europe report”, accusing Bujar Osmani, former Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski and former Minister for European Affairs Bojan Maričić of this, Osmani stated that “every second sentence of the Prime Minister (of North Macedonia) is false” as a matter of fact.
He stated that with the removal from the negotiating framework of North Macedonia of the wording related to the languages in which the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborhood with Bulgaria was signed “according to the constitution” is a “historical breakthrough” made by the government of Dimitar Kovachevski.
“It must be said that the breakthrough in terms of the qualification of the language, after 30 years, in the negotiating framework - the most important document, the constitution of relations with the EU and with the support of the Republic of Bulgaria, to indicate “Macedonian language“ was made during this period“, said Osmani.
In response to the remark that Bulgaria had made a unilateral declaration regarding the Macedonian language, Osmani said that this was for internal use and had no legal weight.
“According to international law, the legal weight is that the Republic of Bulgaria voted for the negotiating framework. The Republic of Bulgaria allowed the agreement with “Frontex“ to be signed with the new wording, and not with the wording of the Treaty (on friendship and good neighborliness) from 2017 and the declaration (between the governments of Ivan Kostov and Lyubcho Georgievski) from 1999. So, if we look at the issue chronologically, the only positive breakthrough on the language issue was made then, with the negotiating framework. And they (the government of Hristiyan Mickoski) managed in 10 months, in an attempt to satisfy their populist and nationalist ego, to bring the topic back, for some political dividends. I said from day one that this was a mistake. Leave the language, this issue is closed“, says the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia.
In response to criticism from VMRO-DPMNE for the presence of the agreements with Greece and Bulgaria in the negotiating framework, Osmani stated that the two agreements were present in the proposals of both Portugal and Germany, which were acceptable to North Macedonia.