site.btaNorth Macedonia's Constitutional Amendments Intended to "Shift Emphasis from History to Human Rights" in Discourse with Bulgaria

North Macedonia's Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said in an interview for Frontline.mk on Saturday that his country's relations with Bulgaria go along two distinct lines: one about history and identity, and the other about human rights. In this sense, he said, the proposal to amend the Constitution of North Macedonia was a way to shift the emphasis to human rights, because Skopje is good on that front.

Osmani said: "Although an attempt was made to place the whole focus on the question of history and identity, we managed to shift it and to persuade the EU to view the entire discourse with Bulgaria through the prism of minorities and human rights. [...] That was a deliberate push on our part to place the centre of gravity of the process in a field in which we are good [...] Our greatest strength lies in human rights, group rights, and we want to play on a field where we are at our best, rather than a field where objective assessment is impossible [...] If we fail to make the constitutional amendments, which were brought up on our initiative, we will allow matters to slip back to the first line of discourse, which is not in our best interests."

According to the foreign minister, the opposition in Skopje has no case against the amendments, which are intended to put the Bulgarians into the Constitution of North Macedonia. He deplored the fact that "such an important matter of strategic significance for our country is viewed solely from the perspective of the upcoming elections".

Osmani noted that a country's politicians should not have partisan differences over EU membership, because the issue transcends the tenure of a single government. Regrettably, he said, the opposition in North Macedonia is doing just the opposite: it is using a partisan approach to the country's European perspective. "They see that citizens are disillusioned due to the difficult road we have travelled and are trying to take advantage of popular emotions and earn votes for themselves - only to implement the same regulations later from the position of power."

According to Osmani, the people of North Macedonia should make up their mind about whether they want to support the political parties which are set on blocking the process of European integration, or the parties which want the country to become an EU member. He argued that the proposed constitutional amendments "will restart the process and will make it possible to continue on the path to the EU".

Russia cannot be an alternative, he noted. "Do you know of anyone who wants to go to Russia to work or study? People go to the EU, because we share the same system of values and we embrace these values for geographical, cultural, economic and historical reasons. Some people may take advantage of the disillusionment about the difficult process and maintain a latent tension in an attempt to use and demonstrate some sort of influence. We see it all the time: attempts at anti-NATO, anti-European propaganda, propaganda to undermine inter-ethnic relations," Osmani said.

Asked whether the powerholders and the opposition are likely to reach some sort of agreement and get the constitutional amendments through, the foreign minister said that North Macedonia will never become an EU member unless its politicians become aware that EU membership requires compromise and consensus between the government and the opposition. He added, however, that "there are opposition MPs who understand the issue about the two lines [in relations with Bulgaria] and who realize that if we go off the course of human rights, we will relapse into the course of history and identity".

Osmani denied allegations that during a North Macedonia visit by Gabriel Escobar, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, there was a discussion on Criminal Code amendments which was attended by Ali Ahmeti, leader of the Democratic Union for Integration, the largest Albanian party in North Macedonia and a partner in the coalition government.

The foreign minister explained that the Criminal Code amendments were prompted by public discontent with the rule-of-law situation in North Macedonia, particularly as regards high-level corruption. "The changes have made the system more flexible as it has minimized litigation delays and has facilitated the confiscation of assets, because, after all, citizens want to see assets return into the hands of the state, rather than draconian punishments which are not implemented due to the lack of flexibility," Osmani said.