Skopje, 5 June 2024 (MIA) - My human right, guaranteed by numerous conventions, is the right to free expression and speech. In all my statements my fatherland is, has been and will remain Macedonia. The overall institutional communication, which is within the legislation and the Constitution, will be respected for as long as those laws and Constitution are in place the way they are, VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski told media on Wednesday.

Mickoski said he responded a few weeks ago to “the hysteria”, which, he said, “is happening in our southern neighbor” and assumes that “it is a part of their election campaign”.

“I don’t expect Taliban-like behavior, censorship of a basic human right. The future VMRO-DPMNE government will respect everything that is contained in the Prespa Agreement and is part of our legal system and constitutional order,” Mickoski said.

The VMRO-DPMNE leader noted he doesn’t “get angry with politicians when they don’t say the entire or full name of their country, but simply the end or a part of that name”.

“You can’t ask for laws to be respected, for there to be rule of law, to implement reforms, while being hypocritical on the other hand, saying things that aren’t true, and you can’t implement. But in my statements, this will be the name of my fatherland, it will be and is Macedonia,” Mickoski said.

If the issue is raised at the NATO Summit, Mickoski said his message will be that he wants to build bridges of cooperation and friendship with the country’s neighbors.  

“The Macedonian people and citizens are a peace-loving, welcoming people, and they’ve behaved like that. I expect our neighbors to behave like that too, and to cooperate and nurture good neighborly relations,” Mickoski said.

Mickoski stressed that a debate could be launched at any forum to assess how much either party has realized from the Prespa Agreement.

“But I would prefer to discuss investments, a better living standard, development, reforms. That’s what the citizens expect from us, and why the citizens voted for us,” Mickoski said. 

Photo: MIA