Skopje, 29 July 2021 (MIA) – North Macedonia’s Parliament adopted Thursday a resolution establishing national positions in the context of blockades in the EU integration process, which was filed by the opposition party VMRO-DPMNE. 96 MPs voted for the document with 95 voting in favor and one in abstention. Earlier, the MPs passed an amendment, filed by a group of MPs, on including the constitutional name of the Republic of North Macedonia into the resolution. One representative each of the parliamentary groups took the floor to speak about the key document. By adopting the resolution with consensus, MPs have the chance to demonstrate strong unity, readiness for rational dialogue and compromise and strong will for accelerating the European perspective and strengthening the state and national sovereignty, said Timcho Mucunski of VMRO-DPMNE. “Macedonian identity and language is the inviolable reality of our people. It is our heritage and our legacy for future generations. With the resolution, we want to end the lingering tendencies of denying the will of the people and of endless negotiations about issues that should be left in distant past,” Mucunski said, adding the resolution provides the Macedonian diplomacy “with a strong tool to care for and protect the Macedonian identity, tradition, ethno uniqueness and collective integrity.” “These are our red lines,” he stressed. SDSM MP Jovan Mitreski said the resolution is acceptable for the social democrats after the constitutional name was included in order to be in line with the Constitution. “Macedonian language, Macedonian identity and Macedonian uniqueness have been recognized and reaffirmed internationally, they are inscribed in our UN ID. Our international positions are clear and have been publicly confirmed so many times – the Macedonian identity, Macedonian language and Macedonian uniqueness are non-negotiable. They have never been and will never be. A hard fact cannot be negotiated. Today, the whole world knows we are Macedonians speaking Macedonian,” he said. SDSM, Mitreski, said, supports the resolution in order to put an end to lies about SDSM being “traitor of the nation”. Skender Rexhepi of Alliance for Albanians/Alternative said his parliamentary group will endorse the resolution and asked the leaders of the largest parties of the Macedonian bloc to initiate constitutional changes establishing Albanians as nation-building people instead of a minority of over 20 percent. “The country should be in the EU. We need to foster good neighborly relations. The Macedonian identity has never been disputed by the Albanians in the country and also by Albanians in Kosovo and Albania. We have always and will always support the right to self-determination,” said Rexhepi. While interethnic conflicts were being opened in the 1990s, he stressed, Bulgaria was focused on implementing reforms to join the EU. “Had Albanians been recognized as nation-building people in the 1990s, we would have been the ones today who had conditioned Bulgaria, not the other way round,” Rexhepi noted. Saying DUI endorses the resolution, MP Arber Ademi spoke about the idea of the formation of the European Union, noting that some events from the 20^th century should never happen again. “To block one EU hopeful, it doesn’t harm only the country but also the EU. To block the EU integration of North Macedonia is to block the whole process of EU enlargement,” said Ademi stating the country deserves to start negotiating with the EU. As Albanians, he noted, we are in solidarity with our fellow countrymen Macedonians because the identity is not a matter of discussion or negotiations. Saying he backs the resolution, MP Kastriot Rexhepi of BESA said he is one of the signatories of the amendment on including the new constitutional name in the document. Levica too backs the resolution, MP Dimitar Apasiev said, calling it “benign”. “The documents MPs are adopting, resolutions and declarations, are nothing more than being symbolic. There is only one truth – there were, there have always been and there are Macedonians regardless of whether the politicians are negotiating how the language, how the country would be called,” he said. According to him, the country should seek other alternatives because “highly likely it will remain in the EU’s waiting room for too long.”