site.btaNorth Macedonia's SDSM Calls for Referendum on Country’s EU Membership

Opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) leader Venko Filipce called on Wednesday for a referendum on whether North Macedonia should join the European Union (EU). Speaking at a press conference, Filipce said citizens should decide "whether they are willing to pay the price for the criminal policies of [North Macedonia's Prime Minister] Hristijan Mickoski," which, according to him, are keeping the country outside the EU.

"Call a referendum, ask the citizens. You cannot decide the fate of everyone living in this country," he said, reacting to Mickoski's statements that no further concessions would be made in the EU accession process and that the Government was ready to pay the price for that position.

"Two questions arise: what are these concessions and who will pay the price?... It will not be Mickoski, nor his associates, nor his ministers; they all have Bulgarian passports in their pockets. It will not be his criminal gang. All citizens are paying the price, all of us will pay the price - our families, children and young people. This ruling gang simply does not know how to govern the country. It has no capacity, no knowledge of anything. They have overburdened the country with debt, destroyed living standards, and citizens are barely surviving until the first day of the month," Filipce said.

According to him, North Macedonia's Government "is lying again" and does not want the country to join the EU "because there is accountability there." That, Filipce argued, is why artificial conflicts, internal traitors and artificial external enemies, are being created.

On May 21, North Macedonia's former diplomat Viktor Gaber submitted a proposal to the Parliament in Skopje calling for a referendum on constitutional amendments, as a way for citizens to directly express their view on continuing EU accession talks, according to media reports.