Media in Brussels: VMRO-DPMNE victory, end of North Macedonia European dream

“Politco” stresses that yesterday's vote has shown a strong “Determination” of the electorate in favour of the coalition-backed candidate of “the main conservative opposition party” V MRO-DPMNE, Gordana Silianovska-Davidkova.

The article adds that after counting 85 per cent of the vote, Siljanovska-Davidova was in charge with 40.1 per cent of the vote, while current President Stevo Pendarovski, backed by “the ruling socialist party” LSDM received 19.7 per cent of the vote.

Euroact reports that “nationalist candidate” for North Macedonia President Gordana Silianovska-Davidkova declared victory in the first round of presidential elections, which is “first in a series of votes that could decide whether the Balkan country will join the European Union”.

Siljanovska-Davidkova, who is supported by the largest opposition V party MRO- DPMNE, won by 40 per cent, current President Stevo Pendarovski from the centre-left Social Democrat Party (LSDM) won nearly 20 per cent of the vote, the article adds.

“They will face the second round on May 8th, but prospects for Pendarovski are grim”, Euroactive estimates, the same day parliamentary elections will be held.

“Vota for the largely ceremonial presidency is seen as a lactus test for next month's parliamentary elections, in which the V MRO- Nationalist DPMNE seeks to bring down pro-- The EU and the centre-left in power,”, in text.

“Ervable” also emphasises that the elections are being held at a moment “the power player and the opposition that lasts for two years, how the country should behave with neighbouring Bulgaria, which is blocking the path to EU membership”.

The “Relations between Sofia and Skopje have been exasperated for years due to severe disputes over similar languages and the history of the two countries. In 2022, Bulgaria agreed with a proposal by the then French presidency of the EU Council to veto the start of membership negotiations in Skopje, when northern Macedonia would increase the Bulgarian minority in the country's Constitution. Pendarovski and LSDM are willing to adopt the amendments, but have no majority for it in the Assembly. The VMRO-DPMNE party says constitutional changes can only be adopted after North Macedonia's entry into the EU, the position which the government says is unrealistic”, adds “Euractive” in reviewing presidential elections there.

The newspaper “Het Lacte News” (HLN) refers to the issue of constitutional changes in the election text, which by reporting the results of the first election round, estimates that presidential elections can have a major impact on changing the Constitution, which is the “important for North Macedonia's membership in the EU”.

The paper stresses that the country has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005.

“Dictions for potential membership began in 2020, but Bulgaria urged the EU to set several requirements for North Macedonia's membership. The European Union accepted those requirements, which put North Macedonia's membership almost entirely into Bulgaria's”, estimates HLN.

The text stresses that one of the Bulgarian demands is a amendment to the Constitution that “will recognise Bulgarians, who currently represent an ethnic minority in northern Macedonia”, adding that the constitutional amendment has not been adopted at the moment.

The paper points out that if current President Stevo Pendarovski, a member of the pro-European party LSDM”, wins again, there will be a new vote on the issue, while on the other hand, Siljanovska-David, deputy of the conservative opposition V Party's “MRO DPMNE, refuses to change the Constitution.

Consequently, the VMRO- The DPMNE could mean the temporary end of Northern Macedonia's European dream, concludes “Het Lacte News”.