site.btaVMRO-DPMNE Leader: Bulgaria's Dictating Changes to North Macedonia's Constitution Indicates Russian Influence in Balkan Region

The big European countries and North Macedonia's politicians, who push for amendments to the country's constitution and the inclusion of Bulgarians in it, are “victims of Russian interests in the Balkans”, said opposition party VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski in an interview for TV 21. He was asked why he continues to maintain that the constitutional changes, which are set out as a condition in the country's EU accession negotiating framework, are forced by Bulgaria.

Mickoski said that “the Macedonian identity had fallen victim to Russian interests in the Balkans twice” - the first time was with the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano, and the second time “when Bulgaria withdrew from the Bled agreement following Stalin's orders”.

In his words, “nowadays, in the 21st century, there are countries which are part of the EU but are still held hostage to Russian interests in the Balkans”.

"We aspire to cultural autonomy, something that Macedonians in Bulgaria used to have," Mickoski said. According to him, Bulgaria does not implement 14 "binding" rulings by the European Court of Human Rights in favour of Macedonians based there, and North Macedonia’s government officials say they cannot convince Bulgaria to do so. He said that he is expected to accept the inclusion of Bulgarians in North Macedonia's Constitution, a condition laid down in the negotiating framework for EU accession and one that, according to him, he had not been involved in.

The leader of VMRO-DPMNE said that he had not considered changing his position and that his party will not back the constitutional amendments which need to be voted by North Macedonia’s Parliament in order for the Second Intergovernmental Conference to be held and the country to continue its process of European integration by opening negotiations.

According to Mickoski, VMRO-DPMNE will win the upcoming parliamentary elections in North Macedonia and will have 10 more MPs in government. He also said that he expects his party's candidate to lead by 100,000 to 150,000 votes in the first round of the presidential elections, which are also due to be held in 2024.