site.btaMickoski Says North Macedonia’s Path Remains toward EU, but Fairness and Tangible Gains Must Be Ensured

The path toward the European Union remains the direction North Macedonia wants to follow, but the key questions are what the country gains in the process and whether the terms are fair, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said in his address marking the Day of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle on Wednesday.

“In the context of the latest demands standing in our way, namely the constitutional changes, the key question is: what do we gain from this, and is this the end? Is it fair? Every step we take must be guided by the answers to these questions. We must first ensure guarantees that this will be the final (condition) and that we will obtain something tangible and predictable, something important for the state and its citizens. Only then should our eastern neighbour demonstrate European values in turn and respond in the same manner regarding the Macedonian community in Bulgaria,” Mickoski argued.

He also argued that North Macedonia has demonstrated its commitment to the EU “through many sacrifices” and that no one has the right to say the country has not “paid too high a price” for what it aspires to achieve — membership in the European Union.

Mickoski again accused the opposition in North Macedonia of being “ready to accept much more and to give much more” because that is how it seeks to come to power.

According to him, the VMRO-DPMNE party will allow time for the opposition to consolidate and decide whether it dares to go to early elections – elections that, he said, it claims not to want and considers unnecessary.