Skopje, 18 September 2024 (MIA) - Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski is on a working visit to Brussels from Wednesday to Friday, alongside Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timcho Mucunski and Minister of European Affairs Orhan Murtezani.

In Brussels, according to the Government, PM Mickoski, together with the other Western Balkan leaders, will attend a working lunch organized by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

Mickoski is also expected to meet with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi.  

He will meet with the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), Gert Jan Koopman, as well.

According to the Government, the meetings are aimed at intensifying the current cooperation and are significant for North Macedonia’s accession to the European Union. “The meetings,” said the Government, “will touch upon a series of issues relating to regional stability, increased economic cooperation, aligning reforms with European standards, rule of law and the Government’s uncompromising fight against corruption and crime.”

Ahead of his visit, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told media on Wednesday that the Growth Plan will be on the agenda, vowing to defend the Macedonian national interests if the Euro-integration process is discussed as well. “The Government’s position on the constitutional amendments is clear,” he said, “and we want to know that if we begin that process, we will finish it in three, four, five years at most, as was promised in 2018, and become an EU member state.”

Mickoski said the Growth Plan has been submitted to the European Commission by the Macedonian Government, which, he said, has drafted “a fantastic document”.

“A high-quality document that was stuck for months. With the creation of the Government, we submitted it to the office of the European Commission here in Skopje, and then it was delivered to Brussels as well. That is also the goal of my visit and working lunch with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen,” Mickoski said.

In case the EU integrations are discussed, Mickoski said he would defend and protect the Macedonian national interests.

“We want to present our arguments, we want to convey the frustration felt by the Macedonian citizens, because it is big, huge I would say. More than two and a half decades since we launched our path to the European Union, more than a decade and a half since we officially received the first positive report by the European Commission regarding the beginning of negotiations, we can’t begin negotiations, not because we don’t respect the Copenhagen Criteria or the European values, but because there are artificially imposed obstacles that no other peoples, no other country has had, as we do,” Mickoski said.

Asked whether the potential delayed implementation of the constitutional amendments could be a part of discussions in Brussels, Mickoski said he wouldn’t like to comment but stressed that the Government’s positions are clear.

“I wouldn’t like to comment, VMRO-DPMNE's position, the Government’s position is clear. My position is clear. We’ve had enough defeats; we’ve had enough policies and diplomacy of bent knees and kissing boots. Now we have policies and diplomacy founded on a two-way street. We want to talk about values, about respecting human rights, and we want to know that if we begin that process, we will finish it in three, four, five years at most, as was promised in 2018, and become an EU member state,” Mickoski said, adding that anything else would be "tales and traps" that the Government has no intention of falling for.  

Photo: MIA Archive