site.btaVMRO-DPMNE Leader: When Deciding on North Macedonia's European Path, EU Should Send Bulgarian Representative to Have Coffee

The European path is the future of North Macedonia, said VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski on Monday. He argued that the ruling Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) party has not only not brought the country closer, but even further away from the EU.

The launch of real negotiations between North Macedonia and the European Union will be among the leading topics in the election campaign in this country, which, although unofficially, has practically already started.

Mickoski called the news that such negotiations have already started a "colourful lie" that SDSM has "sold" to the citizens, and the negotiating framework is "a treaty that will further open new conditions and make [North Macedonia's] European path impossible".

Mickoski argued that the citizens of North Macedonia have done "more for European values than any other people in Europe".

"We changed the banknotes, we used a derogatory name (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), we changed the flag, we amended the Constitution several times, we redrew the territorial redistribution of the state. Then again, in a violent and brutal way, we changed the Constitution and the name [North Macedonia] again, and nobody appreciated that. Now, because of this criminal group in the government, we are again facing additional conditions," Mickoski stated.

"As it is, the Constitution of North Macedonia guarantees the rights of all ethnic communities in the country, including several hundred citizens who are part of the Bulgarian community, but unfortunately thousands, I would say tens of thousands of Macedonian citizens [in Bulgaria] cannot even register an NGO. These are not European values. At the last EU Council, in December, you saw that if there is a desire and a decision has to be taken, it can be taken and the principle of unanimity does not apply. I ask our partners in Europe that the right of consensus is not used as an argument when a decision is taken for [North] Macedonia to continue on its European path. They should ask the Bulgarian representative to leave the place where this decision is being taken and go somewhere where he can have a coffee or something else," Mickoski said.