The Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski, said today that in the European Parliament “there are a large number of MEPs who are calling and saying that they will not vote for the amendment, the purpose of which is to delete the Macedonian language in a Taliban way from the report” of the European Parliament on the country's progress towards the EU “to erase the Macedonian language and Macedonian identity”, BTA reported.
The report by MEP Thomas Weitz will be discussed in the EP today, and voted on tomorrow.
Bulgarian MEP Andrey Kovachev announced earlier this month that the three largest parties in the European Parliament - the European People's Party (EPP), the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament and “Renew Europe”, have agreed to remove all references to “Macedonian identity” and “Macedonian language” from the document. The topic of the proposal for this change in the report continues to be among the leading ones in North Macedonia.
After visiting the village of Bashino Selo in Veles, Hristiyan Mickoski commented to journalists that he does not expect the shadow rapporteurs to support this amendment either.
„I regret that in the 21st century in Europe there are such MPs in the EP, which should be a cradle of democracy, where human rights will be respected, where respect for the identity of a small people will not be a stumbling block, but there are such people. The important thing is that that adventure in 2022, inspired primarily by (former Minister of Foreign Affairs) Bujar Osmani and supported by political ignoramuses such as (former Prime Minister of the country Dimitar) Kovačevski and (former Minister of European Affairs Bojan) Maričić, reaches its climax and citizens can see what it is all about,” said Mickoski. He once again recalled that until now, EP reports have never included formulations related to the identity and language of the people of North Macedonia.
In an interview on MRT1 last night, Bujar Osmani commented that with the “opening” on the issue of language, through the EU progress report on the Republic of North Macedonia, the country's government has squandered its "greatest negotiating capital", that attempts to impose the language issue by the government of Hristijan Mickoski have been "used politically for daily political dividends" and are harmful to national interests.