Tirana, 17 June 2025 (MIA) – President Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova speaking to reporters Tuesday in Tirana fell short of commenting on Bulgarian President Rumen Radev’s remarks as regards the veto and negotiating framework saying it doesn’t mean she agrees. I underlined it during the talks, she stressed.

“These remarks weren’t pointed at me, it involved what the EU is doing and what it must do to show that currently there is no policy more important than the enlargement policy and that it is inseparable from the common foreign and security policy and we’ve been pointed out many times as being fully aligned with the European external and security policy,” the head of state said.

The state experience is one thing, reality is another, Siljanovska – Davkova stressed.

“I insist and I know that all European politicians are aware that the sad non-European Macedonian story will not end with us, it will be one of the many more stories despite me being happy for some of the countries in the region that are progressing,” she said.

The President of Macedonia reiterated the country cannot be the victim of identity issues.

Identity issues, Siljanovska – Davkova stressed, are not included in any negotiating framework because they aren’t in the EU Agreement, the Lisbon Treaty and the charter on fundamental rights. It guarantees, according to her, national and cultural identity not only of the EU member countries, but also of EU membership candidates.

“We are not looking for an exclusive status. We are asking for a standard treatment in the spirit of what I’ve been saying constantly. I want to live in a standard European country, I don’t want my country to be the exception from everybody else. Rules should apply to everyone,” Siljanovska – Davkova said in Tirana after participating in Monday’s summit of heads of state and government of SEECP countries.

After a meeting on Tuesday with representatives of the Macedonian community in Albania, the Macedonian Alliance for European Integration and the Ilinden Macedonian Association as well as with Macedonian diplomats and professors, she said the EU has requested several European think tanks, including Greece’s Eliamep, to prepare an analysis and to propose a solution on overcoming the risk of bilateralization – misuse of the veto in the enlargement process because “today, enlargement is not only European democratic need it is a necessity aimed at stabilisation and security in the region.”  

MIA file photo