Skopje, 1 August 2022 (MIA) - VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski says his party will not stop calling for a referendum because "the people are sovereign in the country and it is only them who can decide whether they want to join the EU under the current conditions." The referendum question, according to him, can be defined by September until talks with the coalition partners are concluded and until the recess of the assembly ends. Although the government is against the holding of a referendum, Mickoski stressed the process can be implemented if 150,000 signatures from citizens are collected or if 30 lawmakers raise the issue for holding a referendum. "A good foundation for a question to be formed is whether the citizens want to join the EU under the current conditions," he told Kanal 5 TV. Asked about President Stevo Pendarovski's recent remarks on a possible referendum, the opposition leader said the head of state had once again proven "he is no statesman, but a common subordinate." Under the current circumstances, Mickoski stressed, my party and myself do not intend to support constitutional changes to include the Bulgarians in the Constitution. "Whether we are in power or in opposition, we don't plan to change our decision unless we get European conditions and European negotiation framework, the same that Albania got," he stated. He agreed that the country should develop good neighboring relations with Sofia, "but what Bulgaria has been doing cannot be considered as being good neighborliness." "Negotiations with Bulgaria should be held at a table different than the European one," Mickoski concluded.