site.btaNorth Macedonia PM Confident in EU Path to Accession Negotiations

Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski told reporters during a visit to the village of Zelino, in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, that he is confident that the European Union will find mechanisms through which his country "will win its deserved place in the EU". Mickoski stated that North Macedonia will keep a pro-European course.

The Prime Minister said: "I am a pragmatic person and politician, and I have no doubt that we should build equally good relations with all neighbours, including Bulgaria. We have no problem with extending our Constitution to include some of the Croats who live here, because the Macedonians are part of the Croatian Constitution. We have no problem with including the Montenegrins, Slovenians, etc., but we do have a problem with accepting ultimatums. I am not a person who accepts ultimatums, and I will never allow myself to negotiate something that I know represents a huge problem and frustration for the Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish citizens and all those who are part of the Constitution."

Mickoski is confident that while the problem will eventually be solved. He proceeded to criticize former foreign minister Bujar Osmani did "to the Macedonian identity and the Macedonian people". The Prime Minister pointed to Osmani as the reason why North Macedonia is still unable to start negotiations with the European Union.

In a Facebook post, Osmani responded: "The Prime Minister keeps pointing to culprits to cover up his own failures. First, through electoral populism, he has limited the possibility for diplomacy to actually engage and secure progress in the negotiations with the EU. Then, he held the entire country hostage to his own promises, which to this day no one can explain. And finally, he closed his own room for manoeuvre in politics, and now, instead of fulfilling the EU's conditions, he is making demands of the EU."

Osmani alleged that Mickoski has no plan of action and has never had one when it comes to North Macedonia's European integration. The former foreign minister accused the Prime Minister of shifting the focus towards alternative partnerships, away from the European prospect.