Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, and the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE do not want European integration for North Macedonia, because the EU brings an independent judiciary, strong institutions, European standards, and accountability for anyone who has broken the law, the opposition party SDSM said in a statement.
According to the opposition, the statements made on Wednesday in Skopje by the President of the European Council Antonio Costa, as well as the European Parliament’s report on North Macedonia’s progress adopted on Wednesday by the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, are “two strong confirmations” that “Mickoski is lying to citizens about the European future of North Macedonia.”
Antonio Costa clearly stated that the constitutional amendments (for the inclusion of Bulgarians in the country’s constitution) are the only condition for the official start of accession negotiations with the European Union. There are no ‘additional guarantees’, no ‘new negotiation framework’, and no ‘constitutional amendments with delayed effect’. These were lies with which Hristijan Mickoski misled the public. the statement reads.
And while Mickoski is spreading new fabrications about Europe every day, a second message arrived from Brussels. The rapporteur for North Macedonia in the European Parliament, Thomas Waitz, and the members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs conclude in the report that no progress has been made, especially in the areas of the rule of law, judicial reforms, and the fight against corruption.
European lawmakers clearly point to manipulation and disinformation through ‘foreign hostile interference and disinformation campaigns’, which is yet another strong confirmation of what SDSM has said about the link between VMRO-DPMNE and Serbian Progressive Party led by Aleksandar Vucic, and their campaigns, the statement reads.
The ruling VMRO-DPMNE responded that SDSM leader Venko Filipce, wants constitutional changes every day, even more than the Bulgarians.
“Filipce turned out to be a bigger Bulgarian even than the Bulgarians themselves. Filipce does not listen to the praise from Antonio Costa for the Reform Agenda, nor to the financial resources received from the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. He (…) works in favour of the Bulgarian authorities and knows only one reform, namely constitutional changes. SDSM is a party that throughout the entire history of independent Macedonia has pursued an extremely destructive policy in the field of the country’s European integration. From the change of the flag, name, and constitution, to today’s demands by Filipce for redefining history, language, culture, and identity. VMRO-DPMNE will no longer allow national humiliations. The time for concessions and implementation of foreign agendas is over,” the ruling party said in its statement.