The same, said Kovachevski, happened in the past when the national interests of North Macedonia, in accordance with the decisions and resolutions adopted in this Parliament, were represented by all government members, regardless if they are Macedonians, Albanians, Turks or any other nationality.

“This was confirmed last week when in a principled manner we expressed our positions to all our EU partners and beyond. This was unlike the opposition’s behaviour at the EPP Congress when a resolution was adopted which included requests concerning the denial of the national and historical continuity of Macedonians, and a delegation from the highest echelon of your party was present at the adoption of that resolution. We never saw a press conference where you objected, nor did we see a transcript, nor a speech, nor you doing anything against that. It is easy to defend the national interests at home, but when the national interests need to be defended in front of 27 countries, then, obviously, it is not so easy for some, but someone has to do it, the way I, the president of the country and the coalition partners did,” said Kovachevski.

He stressed that all citizens regardless of their identity are fighting for their national, ethnic, religious identity and continuity. However, said the PM, one of them always has the honour to do so in front of others.

“This time such honour belongs to me, and I am proud that together we all stood up and said what needed to be said without offending anyone at home, or abroad, in the process,” said Kovachevski.

Regarding the economic policies, the PM said that it is very clear to him that an opposition would only pick up on the bad things that are happening as a result of the Ukraine war, as a result of the ongoing health pandemic, the increased energy prices and the historically largest increase in prices of raw materials, electricity and food.

“Ever since the beginning of its term, the government has introduced anti-crisis measures which were welcomed as positive and successful not in this Parliament, but outside, by the international financial institutions. At the time of the COVID-19 crisis six sets of anti-crisis measures worth EUR 1.2 billion were introduced, and now during the Ukraine war there are 26 new anti-crisis measures worth EUR 400 million. Additionally, we didn’t allow a price shock to happen when it comes to electricity, given that the country subsidized it for all citizens by 80 percent,” said Kovachevski.

As regards the workers, he said that the minimum wage only has increased by a hundred percent, the salaries of the nonmedical staff have increased by five percent, by 25 percent for the doctors, and teachers have received a historically highest salary increase.