Skopje, 30 June 2022 (MIA) – French President Emmanuel Macron told me today, and I communicated this with Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski, that France, in the capacity of EU Presidency chair, will modify the text of the negotiating framework, said President Stevo Pendarovski from Madrid and added that the proposal is far better for us than the first one. “This is not a new proposal. There are modifications in two-three sections that they made in consultation with both sides. Nevertheless, we said that the mistake from last time should not be repeated – no President, no Prime Minister can speak on behalf of the entire nation, an entire country, we have institutions. We are not a country of the third or fourth world. We have to communicate this modified French proposal, first with the Government, the coalition partners, the Macedonian public, the Parliament,” President Pendarovski told Sitel TV. Pendarovski said he was acquainted with the content of the proposal, but noted it was not “gentlemanlike” to comment it until there is an official response from Sofia and Skopje. “Both sides are expected to present their position and I have slight reserves about Sofia because the political situation there is rather chaotic. The government has fallen, the minister of foreign affairs has resigned,” said Pendarovski. He added that the modified French proposal is “far better for us” than the first one. “Is this good enough? Let me refrain for now, because I would like to see this go through a broad round of consultations that unfortunately we failed to make last time at the recommendation of our allies, so as not to jeopardize, as they asked, the sensitivity of the process. We must communicate with the citizens, the people, the political entities, because we are trying to have a lasting agreement. We cannot stand by an agreement that gives nothing in our hands, and in our hands we must have a guarantee for the Macedonian identity and a guarantee that a language or nationality will never be mentioned ever again, as long as the negotiations may last. Therefore, if we did not get this through the guarantees by the EU – not by Sofia – we could not move forward with the process,” noted Pendarovski. The President also informed that in talks with “our friends” at the NATO Summit in Madrid, he was told “if we fail to use this, it might be the last such opportunity” because the next one could come who knows when. “They suggested in a friendly way not to repeat the mistake from 2008, as if this was our mistake, when we were denied NATO membership because we had no agreement with Greece. The Prespa Agreement was reached with the only reason of protecting the Macedonian national identity and it cemented the Macedonian language worldwide. In the United Nations, it is registered as Macedonian language and translated in all six official languages. This is the largest global organization, and if the possible agreement with Bulgaria does not follow these standards, not me or whoever president, minister, government or opposition can afford the luxury of talking about these things that have been defined for decades, even centuries ago by our ancestors,” said Pendarovski. According to him, the Government should now come out and salute the efforts of the French Presidency and say what the next steps are. “This is what matters now. It is not important that the French Presidency is ending today, it is important that the modified French proposal is alive and will be taken over by the Czech Presidency. This represents a continuity of European policies towards the country. Therefore, the Czechs will not have to start from zero, as if nothing happened. Let’s not forget, certain important components, for example bilateral or unilateral statements about our language that were part of the Portuguese proposal are incorporated, to a certain extent, in this French proposal as well,” underlined President Pendarovski.