Skopje, 21 September 2022 (MIA) – As a government we fought to achieve two important goals – to fulfill our foreign policy goal of joining the EU and also to secure our identity as Macedonians speaking the Macedonian language, said Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj on Wednesday. “I believe that it is possible. We can join the EU in the near future as Macedonians speaking the Macedonian language. If we realize this and work towards that goal not only as political parties but also as individuals, as media, as social actors, we can achieve it. This is a task of the whole society,” said Marichikj in Brussels speaking to Skopje-based TV24. He underscored that the country should not block itself after the adoption of the French proposal, i.e., after it accepted the obligation to include the Bulgarians, Croats and Montenegrins in the Constitution, which is why it is important for the opposition to be a part of the negotiations as well, further adding that he believes there are VMRO-DPMNE MPs and politicians who are able to grasp the importance of the process and who can realize that this process is unrepeatable. “I publicly invite Aleksandar Nikolski, the chair of the National Council for Euro-integration, to sit down with me and discuss the role of that body, and the role of the opposition as well, in this process. During the screening we need to determine our negotiating positions, which means we need to determine how long we will need to be able to accept and fulfill certain things. Parliament has a role to play in this as well,” said Marichikj. According to Marichikj, who is also the country’s chief EU negotiator, the inclusion of the Bulgarians in the Constitution should not be an issue, since the Constitution recognizes the rights of multiple communities, which has also been stated by some VMRO-DPMNE politicians. Marichikj believes that the consensus on the country’s EU membership should be renewed and that it would not be fair, neither to the citizens nor to the country, if the country were to block itself, because it has already waited long enough as it is. ad/ba/