Skopje, 17 November 2023 (MIA) – We won’t give up on the intention and plan to adopt the constitutional changes as soon as possible, during the term of this composition of Parliament. We are working, and we will continue to work on this issue until the last day of our term, said the Deputy Prime Minister for European affairs, Bojan Marichikj on Friday, noting that North Macedonia is at the end of the first stage of negotiations, and it is up to the country to decide if it wants to move forward or not.

According to Marichikj, the constitutional amendments are an obligation from the negotiating framework and cannot be avoided.

“This parliamentary composition should gather the courage and fulfill this obligation, because it will make it possible for the future Parliament to be more focused on reforms and results,” said Marichikj, in answer to a journalist’s question at a press conference.

Marichikj said it wouldn’t be good for the obligation to be passed onto the next composition of Parliament, while also noting that believing it will disappear if it is ignored is a great illusion.

“This, above all, refers to the opposition and those MPs who believe that by ignoring this obligation, which perhaps seems too great at present, but with time we will realize that it was actually very simple and within the framework of what we already have in our system for six-seven other communities. And that we will pay a truly high price for blocking ourselves,” said Marichikj.

The Deputy PM said he hopes that the country won’t allow itself to wait for a decade before it does anything that it can do today in order to continue negotiations.

“I am certain that VMRO-DPMNE’s MPs will sooner or later realize that this is an obligation, a burden that we can’t avoid. We have tried in the past, with the problem with Greece as well, but waiting for several years and decades only led us to a worse position,” said Marichikj.

Photo: MIA