Skopje, 2 May 2024 (MIA) — The DUI-led European Front remains the most stable option pushing forward North Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic orientation as the only way to a secure future, according to Foreign Minister and DUI spokesman Bujar Osmani at a press conference Thursday.

He said that unlike VMRO-DPMNE and its allies who were recycling nationalist views, flirting with pro-Russian interests, and raising tensions between ethnic and religious communities in the country, the European Front coalition guaranteed stability and coexistence, uniting all communities in their mission of a better, richer life in the EU.

"Citizens cannot and should not trust those wanting to take us back to the processes we overcame with so much effort and sacrifice on our way to peace, coexistence, NATO, the USA and the EU," Osmani said, urging voters to support the European Front to strengthen the political position of not only the ethnic Albanians but also all ethnic communities "against the arrogant threats of enforcing majority rule by VMRO-DPMNE's irresponsible chorus."

Osmani, who was also the European Front's presidential candidate but did not make it to the runoff, said the vote on April 24 had shown their coalition would secure the country's European future.

"The European Front is the only option that will produce a stable government with more than 20 MP seats. The European Front is the only option that will be able to ensure a Badinter majority, which any government in North Macedonia needs to survive. The European Front is the only option that will be able to dictate a clear western orientation for our country, and we will be strongly in the EU in 2030 and in a stable alliance with the USA," he said, adding that the US was North Macedonia's greatest ally and recalling that the countries opened a Strategic Dialogue during his term in office as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"This partnership covers five key areas we have concrete activities planned for. The country's security, the rule of law, economic and cultural [cooperation] as well as lifting visa requirements for the USA are the main points we will focus our potential on during the next term," Osmani said.

"We have provided ample evidence of achieving every goal together," he added. "Together we will overcome this challenge as well — as close as possible to the EU and the USA, as far away as possible from Russia."

In response to a reporter's question why DUI was not sought after as a coalition partner by either of the two dominant parties in the Macedonian bloc, Osmani said they had never aspired to be a sought after partner of VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM but a sought after partner and a representative of the people. 

He added that any attempt, in any election after 2002, to undermine the double majority was futile.

"The Ohrid Framework Agreement led to the need for two majorities: 61 MPs as an absolute majority and a majority according to Badinter. The two majorities are necessary for a stable government and a stable parliament," Osmani said.

"The time of outvoting, of enforcing majority rule, has passed. Unfortunately, it will take time to understand the logic of the Framework Agreement and the mechanisms imposed by it for a double majority," Osmani said.

Asked what would happen if DUI won most votes in the ethnic Albanian political bloc on May 8 but the parties in the Macedonian bloc did not invite them to join the ruling coalition, Osmani said the question was insulting. He said voters would decide who formed the government, reiterating that a government could not be formed without the Badinter majority.

"Neither a stable government nor a functional parliament is possible without the Badinter majority," Osmani said. In addition to the ethnic Albanian community, he said, the double majority vote was also important for the other non-majority communities.

Regarding the nationalist rhetoric in the election campaign, Osmani said VMRO-DPMNE had started it with their slogans of "Macedonia Proud Again" and "Macedonia Yours Again."

He said the slogans were chauvinist because they implied that "there is an Albanian prime minister, there is an Albanian foreign minister, so Macedonia has supposedly not been proud."

"That is," he said, "it has belonged to the Albanians, so now it should be given back to the Macedonians."

"In a multi-ethnic state, such slogans are indefensible. I said on one occasion that this is a job for the public prosecution. Article 137 of the Criminal Code clearly sanctions these issues," Osmani said. 

"The height of the chauvinist narrative was 'I demand 61 MPs'," he said. 

"Demanding 61 MPs in a multi-ethnic state means you demand the supremacy of one ethnic community and the exclusion of other communities from decision-making, the exclusion of Albanians, the exclusion of the Turks, the Bosniaks, the Roma," Osmani said.

The consequences were already visible, he said, pointing to a recent example of two young people beaten up over this, "bringing back memories of fights in buses, of fights in schools, of issues that we thought we had overcome."

VMRO-DPMNE's vocabulary, Osmani said, was chauvinistic toward Albanians and excluding other communities as well, threatening the country's peaceful coexistence as the foundation for its stability and progress.

"The May 8 election is not a battle between the European Front and Worth It. That battle ended on April 24. It was a legitimate battle. The citizens opted for the European Front. On May 8, we are voting either for VMRO-DPMNE's nationalism, which wants to trample on the basic dignity of the citizens of the communities, and the alternative concept, which asks for coexistence and European integration," Osmani said. 

He added that he expected a large turnout of voters who would "put a stop to the return of the nationalism that we thought had passed and that blocked us for 20 years from the EU and drove hundreds of thousands of people out of the country."

"The May 8 elections are in fact a referendum against nationalism and a referendum on coexistence and the EU," Osmani said.

Asked about whether the European Front would tell its supporters to go to the polls to vote for another presidential candidate, Osmani said they would discuss this in the coming days within their coalition of nine parties. mr/