site.btaGovernment Leader, Opposition in Skopje Trade Barbs after Mickoski - Glavchev Meeting during NATO Summit

A meeting between Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev of Bulgaria and Hristijan Mickoski of the Republic of North Macedonia in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday caused the government leader and the opposition SDSM party to trade barbs. The opposition accused Mickoski of keeping silent about the meeting with Glavchev and suspected that he did not raise sensitive issues during his Washington meetings. 

In a video on X, Mickoski said that he had a dynamic day in Washington with lots of meetings in the corridors of the NATO Summit: with the Prime Ministers of Montenegro, Croatia and Hungary, as well as Italy and Spain, and of neighbours Bulgaria and Albania. "The region have long been hostages of the past. It is time to focus on the future and what comes with the future. Let us make Macedonia proud but also make the Balkans proud. Let us me good neighbours, to understand each other and cooperate. This is what people expect of us and this is where I will focus as Prime Minister in the coming years," he said.

Mickoski also published photos of him and the Prime Ministers of Bulgaria and Albania on Facebook.

"The conclusion was that relations [with Bulgaria] should be eased and I pointed out that we should look to the future and use the opportunities for cooperation. The issues of the past and opening new obstacles will not bring the two peoples closer and efforts and steps should be made to inspire confidence between the countries, as in the period before the veto and the beginning of the policy of obstruction," Mickoski wrote in his photo with the Bulgarian Prime Minister.

In a comment on the matter SDSM said that it was 14 hours since Glavchev provided a detailed account of the meeting with Hristijan Mickoski and there was nothing from Mickoski himself. "In addition to the protocol niceties, Glavchev clearly repeated the Bulgarian position that the commitments for North Macedonia remain. Could it be that Mickoski wanted to keep the conversation a secret or was he ashamed to say how his demands were met? Has he put forward the demand for a change of the negotiating framework at all? Did he mention any of the promises he made during the campaign?," the opposition SDSM said.

They argue that the Prime Minister and his VMRO-DPMNE party should have used the summit to strengthen the Macedonian positions on Bulgaria and Greece, and to have other important meetings as well. "What we have seen thus far is plenty of smiling selfies of the ministers, [announcement of an] existing investment and no diplomatic success," SDSM said after the news media in North Macedonia reported of Glavchev's account of the meeting with Mickoski. 

In his video on X, Mickoski said that the second message during his meetings in Washington is that "the time of the bent backs and of corrupt politicians in Macedonia" is now gone. "To sign everything and accept any humiliation that would be asked of them, only to cover up their crimes! That time is now gone. We have to talk like real partners, as neighbours, because partnership and good-neighbourliness is a two-way street," he said.

A statement by VMRO-DPMNE dismissed SDSM's accusation about "a secret meeting" with Glavchev. 

"SDSM should not worry, gone are the days when Prime Minister Zaev was a laughing stock on the international stage and he himself was twisting the backbone of [North] Macedonia and signing everything that was put on the table", the VMRO-DPMNE replied in a message.