Skopje, 5 July 2023 (MIA) - EU Ambassador David Geer in an interview with Top Tema on Telma TV on Wednesday said that the constitutional changes will not be the last demand from the EU, but the country should focus on reforms especially in the rule of law.

“The constitutional changes will not be the last demand asked to this country. We will ask this country to make reforms at every step. The important thing is that the requirements are based on reforms. Whether you make reforms in the rule of law, in the environment and in all those areas. That's where the focus should be, not bilateral demands entering the process,” Geer said.

With respect to whether it is possible to adopt the constitutional change by November, Geer said that the issue of how to make a progress now is a big one.

“The issue of whether the country can be united on the EU reform program, to reduce the political gap, in order to move forward decisively. When you look at other countries like Croatia or Slovenia, all those countries that recently joined the EU, their experience was that the political groups coming together even though they were very divided in many areas, on this issue they worked together to achieve a common goal – joining the EU. I think that the same should be applied here for the constitutional amendments. But that's just the beginning, because then every step of the way must be with a shared commitment to move forward,” Geer said.

Whether he is an optimist that the changes in the Constitution will happen by November, Geer said that the constitutional changes will be the responsibility of the individual members of Parliament.

“What I would say to them is that they will have to decide for themselves. To look at the big picture, to look at what the national interest is, and decide on that basis. I think that if people look at that big question, I have optimism that we can move forward,” Geer noted.

Concerning whether the inclusion of constitutional amendments in the negotiating framework, the EU indirectly influenced the deepening of the political crisis in the country, he said that what happened in July last year was a breakthrough for the country.

“There was a veto for about 18 months, and a compromise was reached as a way to move forward. A compromise that, in my opinion, did not please everyone, as no compromise ever did, but it was still a possibility. An opportunity for the country to move decisively forward. You took that opportunity, started the screening process, started negotiations. I think that was a very positive development. Of course, I understand that during the debate last July there was a lot of emotion, there was a lot of confusion, even bewilderment: What does this mean for us? Will it affect our identity? Questions like that. Perhaps we should have communicated, more clearly, what the agreement itself meant. But when we look at the questions that were asked then, some from the heart, which was honest and really painful from ordinary citizens, some, I think, more cynically, and some manipulative. Let's look at those questions. The first questions that came in were: Will we lose our language? Are we going to give up our language? No, not at all. The case is exactly the opposite. The negotiating framework has the language, Macedonian language, without any qualifications in it. That is the basis on which the negotiations will advance. And after seeing the agreement such as the agreement with FRONTEX and others that were approved in the Macedonian language in the context of the EU,” Geer said.

Regarding whether the history, the identity, whether these issues will be put in question, as a result of this agreement, he said that the identity is not lost on the way to the European Union.

“Look at all the other countries that have become members. They too often had fears about this issue, especially the smaller countries. Which as the case has proven to be the complete opposite of that. It was a very demanding and difficult debate. What was really the point is that there is a much deeper issue here, which is the general issue of polarization within the country itself, political polarization, because the EU accession process requires political parties on both sides of the political dividing line to unite on the political agenda of reforms. All of them, almost all of them, are politically committed to joining the EU, but this should be translated into an agreement across the divide, to work together to achieve that goal,” the EU Ambassador underlined.

Asked whose responsibility it is that the country has been in the waiting room of the EU for too long, he said that there is responsibility on both sides.

“I think there is responsibility on both sides. Of course, there is a responsibility on the side of the European Union as well. It took a long time, like I said, too long, and it affected trust. However, there is also a responsibility on the part of successive governments and authorities, because the heart of the accession process is the implementation of reforms that will make it possible for the country to become a member of the European Union on an equal level with the member states. The responsibility for the implementation of these reforms rested with successive governments, and someone should ask: Why didn't we make more progress? Yes, the country has made progress, and we have reported on it in many areas, but still much more could be expected. Today we were not supposed to have extensive and difficult talks about the rule of law, the fight against corruption, all these key issues, which are still big issues some 30 years after the country was founded. Therefore, there is also a responsibility there, on the part of the authorities to make progress, because in the end that is the key to joining the EU,” EU Ambassador Geer noted.

Photo: MIA archive