Skopje, 27 November 2025 (MIA) - Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told MPs on Thursday that the country’s future is in the European Union, and the government will do everything in its power to realize that strategic goal but, he said, without double standards and in line with the Copenhagen criteria.

“There should be no dilemmas that Macedonia’s future is in the European Union. The approach to realizing that goal is different. The previous government had an approach with which they thought that if they accept everything put before them, they will be freed from their crime and corruption. But at the elections last year the citizens chose the path which the country should move on, and that’s the trajectory of fairness, work, and honesty,” Mickoski said at a Q&A session in Parliament.

Mickoski said previous prime ministers have often avoided telling the truth and accepted things without having guarantees or predictability for the rest of the process.

“This is not our approach, it is completely different – we will do everything in our power to realize this strategic goal, but without double standards and in line with the Copenhagen criteria,” Mickoski said.

Referring to the European Union’s assessment of the preparedness of Western Balkan countries, Mickoski said Bosnia and Herzegovina is ranked last, Kosovo and Albania are above it, while North Macedonia and Serbia are at a similar level of preparedness, with Montenegro leading the group.

The Prime Minister said the country ranks first in terms of its alignment with the EU’s common foreign and security policy and recalled that the country has joined the Single Euro Payments Area.

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