Skopje, 31 July 2022 (MIA) – Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski reiterated Sunday that the announced referendum by VMRO-DPMNE is for domestic political purposes, noting that together with Levica they are only two parties that oppose North Macedonia’s EU accession. According to him, North Macedonia has begun its path to EU membership and such a referendum is irrelevant. “First of all, the Republic of North Macedonia declared at a referendum that it wants to be an independent state, member of EU and NATO. VMRO-DPMNE is the party that opposed the NATO membership, now together with their new coalition partner Levica are the only two parties that oppose EU membership and they clearly showed this when voting for the EU proposal over the start of North Macedonia’s accession negotiations. Nevertheless, a dominant number of MPs, 68 representatives of the citizens, decided that North Macedonia should start the negotiations. This referendum that the VMRO-DPMNE leader is referring to is for domestic political purposes because there is no other party other than Levica that opposes NATO and EU and favors some kind of union with Russia,” PM Kovachevski told reporters. According to him, VMRO-DPMNE should ideologically identify itself as being for EU or not, noting that North Macedonia has started the accession negotiations with a clear Macedonian language and protected identity, which has been also confirmed by the European Commission President. “As of the day of the first intergovernmental conference, the country has started its EU membership path. There is no way back from this path, no left or right, even less right to the east, so VMRO-DPMNE’s demand for some referendum against EU accession is irrelevant,” said Kovachevski. On the statement of EU Ambassador David Geer that the accession process would stop if the Constitution is not changed, the PM said the constitutional revision is decided in the Parliament, adding that the country would have to make a number of legislative and constitutional changes during the process of its EU accession, including when joining the Union, in order to renounce a portion of its jurisdiction to the EU, “since we are entering a Union of 27 other countries”. “Therefore, lawmakers representing the citizens should be up to their task and take the decisions related to the EU accession, including legislative and constitutional changes, in the citizens’ interest. Let me repeat, the announcement for a referendum is exclusively for VMRO-DPMNE’s domestic political purposes and nothing else,” underlined Kovachevski.