Skopje, 4 April 2024 (MIA) – North Macedonia is in Europe. It should be in the European Union. It should have complete Euro-Atlantic integration. It should share markets more openly. The bright future of this country lies within the European Union, said the United States Ambassador to North Macedonia, Angela Aggeler, in an interview Thursday for TV 21.

In the interview, Aggeler said they would watch the elections very closely, and would also watch closely to see if there is foreign interference.

“In all honesty, I don’t have a particular view about the presidential elections. I think it makes a lot of sense that they are having the second round of the presidential elections with the parliamentary elections. That makes great sense. And we’ll watch them very closely. I think there’s very interesting dynamics amongst all the parties, I think there’s very interesting dynamics amongst the Albanian parties. And with all elections, as we watch that very closely, we also watch closely to see if we perceive that there is foreign interference from Russia or frankly from any other actors,” Aggeler said.

Asked about the fact that the political parties of the ethnic Albanians increasingly demand the constitutional amendments be adopted before the creation of the next Government, Aggeler said she has heard several options about how that might be possible.

“I have heard of a couple of different options about how it might be possible. I believe [it is feasible]. I believe that there have been precedents, not for decades I think, but there have been precedents where amendments have been passed during technical governments. One of the things that I have learned serving here is that all things are possible,” the US Ambassador said.

According to the Ambassador, the voters should carefully listen to how leaders describe their vision for the future.

“I urge all voters to listen very carefully to what those that are running, not just the heads of SDSM and VMRO, but the Albanian parties, the MPs, those that are running on the lists. Listen to them very carefully on how they are describing their vision of the future, because that’s so important to voters, I do that in my country,” Aggeler stressed.

“And once those hard questions are asked,” Aggeler said, “people decide, will this person’s vision match what I want for my family?”

In the TV 21 interview, the Ambassador was also asked why the US authorities haven't shared evidence with the authorities in North Macedonia about the people they have designated for corruption, she responded stating that US privacy laws prevent them from doing so.

“We cannot simply open up, this is the evidence that we have, and let us share that with you. The point is, we have privacy laws, and it would break our laws to open up those cases and share the evidence. However, that evidence was – most of it, not all of it, some of it came from sources within the United States – but most of it came from here, from this country. So, if American diplomats can gather the information that provided sufficient evidence, then surely, an investigator, or a prosecutor, or anybody from law enforcement or the judiciary can find the same evidence. If we can find it, then surely people who are here can as well,” the Ambassador stressed.

Asked if there will be other designations in the run-up to the elections, Aggeler said people should understand that the Embassy in Skopje doesn’t determine the timing of the elections. 

“And they are not politically driven, our most recent designation had nothing to do with politics, it was when Washington had completed its processes and that will be the case for future ones,” Aggeler said.

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