Skopje, 31 December 2024 (MIA) - At a press conference Tuesday, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski reiterated his position that the country will not adopt constitutional changes to add the Bulgarian and other communities in the country to the Constitution's Preamble without guarantees from Brussels, i.e., a “joint, clear plan that there won’t be any additional bilateralization of the accession process”.

“I expect that together with the people in Brussels we will discuss and draft a plan and scenario on how to reach the very end, and not just the first one or two obstacles. I want to see a plan, in which we will be actively participating, about how to reach the very end. Of course, no one can guarantee that we will reach the end within a certain time period, but they can guarantee that we will no longer have a problem with bilateral issues, since we haven’t moved an inch these 20 years because of bilateral issues. It’s not that we are brilliant domestically, but there are a lot of member states who became member states and were not brilliant. Let me be more direct, it isn’t always an issue of clusters and chapters, political will and decisions play a part as well,” Mickoski said.

The PM said the process is a two-way street, stressing that the country is ready to move down its path, but questioned Brussels’ readiness to do the same.

“This is a two-way street, we are ready to proceed down our lane but is Brussels ready to proceed down its lane – not declaratively, not by tapping us on the shoulder, not by sending messages, but by sitting down and creating a clear plan together. This is what I expect from Brussels,” Mickoski said at the press conference.

Asked whether Brussels insists on the constitutional changes as a prerequisite for the country’s European path and about Speaker Afrim Gashi’s statement that the changes require political will from the largest ruling party, Mickoski said while he is heading the Government and VMRO-DPMNE, the country’s Constitution won’t be amended unless there are guarantees from the EU.

“There won’t be political will while I lead the Government and while I am the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, and without VMRO-DPMNE there can be no constitutional changes, this should be clear to everyone. There aren’t and there won’t be constitutional changes in their current form. Since I am neither an adventurist not an exhibitionist, I step on firm ground and if I make a certain decision I want that decision to mean an end to the process, not just a beginning. When someone is Brussels is ready to talk to me about an end to the process, then I will be ready,” Mickoski said, assessing Gashi’s statement as “intelligent” since “he is aware of the reality that there cannot be constitutional changes in the country without VMRO-DPMNE”.

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