Prilep, 11 October 2025 (MIA) — There needs to be a deep mobilization of all structures in society to reset the system, which is rotten and dysfunctional, under the strain of many concessions, unreasonable compromises, coercions and disappointments; there needs to be a serious dialogue in society over essential issues, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said in his remarks at the official celebration of National Uprising Day.

Speaking at the Marko Cepenkov Cultural Center in Prilep, Prime Minister Mickoski said he was ready to lead this dialogue between different generations and groups of society.

"I am talking about a substantive dialogue with all social factors important for the state – the academic community, professors, academicians, scholars, young people, experienced people and those with the energy for progress," he said.

"I am ready to lead this process and unite around a platform, not political or merely economic, but social, to achieve the goals we aim for as a state," Mickoski said.

He recalled that the country had gone through difficult times over the past 30 years, including an embargo, transition, military conflict, veto and a name change. Each of these left behind a mark on the collective consciousness and memory, he said.

"All these things were destroying self-confidence and killing hope," the prime minister said, pointing to them as the reason many people left the country.

"Justifiably so," he said. "Just as devastating for the entire country is the public sentiment that the system in Yugoslavia was much more organized than it is now. This is not so much nostalgia for that system of more than 30 years ago as it is a revolt against the dysfunctional system we have been building over these 30 years."

"And this system is rotten and dysfunctional, under the strain of many concessions, unreasonable compromises, coercions and disappointments," Mickoski said. 

"This is why citizens are tired of politics, of arguments about essential issues. Because too many people have forgotten the morality and values ​​that should be the armature making us resistant to all shocks," he said.

"And we know the first and last names of the culprits for this," Mickoski continued. 

"We don't know how long they will be doing it, but we know we won't allow them to succeed even when they give gifts to other countries and when they get gifts from other countries. 

"What I truly know and endorse is the realization that this generation, this generation of ours, is our last chance and this time, there won't be a makeup exam," Mickoski said.

The prime minister also said the country was on the right track. It was not an easy road ahead, he said, but it was the right one.

"And we are building the road ahead with our hearts, with faith and with love for our homeland. Every step we take is for the future of our children, for the young people who want to stay, for a Macedonia that is not giving up," Mickoski said. mr/