Macedonian opposition leader against French proposal: We don't need Europe if we're assimilated

Macedonian opposition leader against French proposal: We don't need Europe if we're assimilated

Macedonian opposition leader Hristian Mickoski on July 2nd dismissed France's new proposal for resolving the dispute with Bulgaria, which paves the way for starting negotiations for integration into the European Union.

At his party rally, VMRO- The DPMNE before the government of Northern Macedonia, Mickoski said that <x0 people are waking up and all those who want to end Macedonia [North] by signing within one or two days, the Macedonian people and Macedonian citizens will not forget that. We don't need Europe if we have to assimilate”, VMRO-head Mickoski stressed during a protest with the motto “Ultimatum no thank you”.

“I do not want to be in Europe because I have the right to be Macedonian, speaking Macedonian, and fighting for his Macedonia, his identity, his culture, his history and his legacy”, Mickoski said.

He added that Macedonian identity is above all by praising as harmful “” the new French proposal, since according to him, “does not differ from the first” proposal.

But, in advance, Foreign Affairs Minister Bujar Osmani said the modified French proposal for resolving the conflict between Skopje and Sofia closed the issues of Macedonian identity and language, which, according to him, are accepted as such by the European Union.

“Bulgaria can maintain its position on the Macedonian language, but this will not be acceptable for the EU under negotiations. Propagandists say it's a dead end, we're going to be terrified, but we're here to dismantle such gears. I've heard variations that there were inputs, qualifications. Ninety percent of the time we spent to close the issue for the language”, Osmani said, clarifying the French proposal for which consultations are being held in northern Macedonia with all factors in the country.

According to chief diplomat Osmani, the proposal could be passed only with the Government's decision without the need for the country from Parliament, as Northern Macedonia Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski had previously declared.

For the head of Macedonian diplomacy, Bujar Osmani, the biggest “gap between the new and the old French proposal is that the Macedonian “the Macedonian judiciary remains protected in the EU and the so-called proposals such as the “geage of North Macedonia”, “the regime under the Constitution” and the introduction with a star that the Macedonian “ge for Bulgaria is unacceptable, ” are rejected.

He said Macedonia is recognised by the EU and with the membership process, it will become one of the EU's official languages”.

Bulgaria has consistently insisted that the Macedonian language is a dialect of the Bulgarian language, as well as its identity, which according to Sofia has <x0 Bulgarian “zerjean”.

This has led Bulgaria, as an EU member state, in November 2020 to use veto to block the launch of northern Macedonia's EU membership talks.

Bulgaria, with France's first proposal, has also insisted on the inclusion of the Bulgarian minority in the Constitution of Northern Macedonia before the membership talks start, but with the modification of the proposal, according to top diplomat Osmani, this will happen before the opening of the first chapter of talks.

The pre-proposal provided for constitutional changes first adopted, then negotiations to begin. There is now the beginning of negotiations, the first intergovernmental conference, the opening of negotiations, the full process of verification, and prior to the opening of the first chapter, we must make constitutional changes”, Osmani stressed.

Macedonian institutions' leaders have said the new proposal does not concern the historic issue, which is also an open conflict between Skopje and Sofia. / REL