Ljubljana, 19 May 2026 (MIA) - Macedonia has made a lot of changes to its Constitution on the path to the EU. But those that are controversial or resemble constitutional engineering are those that have been initiated from abroad, such as the ones stemming from the Ohrid Framework Agreement, then the Prespa Agreement, which they were assuring us would be the last. Now we are once again being asked to amend the Constitution to add the Bulgarians so we can begin negotiations. Our Solomonic solution is that if we make the amendments and if they really are the last, they should enter into force after we conclude negotiations, said President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova who gave a lecture Tuesday on the constitutional changes required for the country's EU membership at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Law.

“We aren’t running away from a veto, but it should be tied to the Copenhagen criteria, and not issues of identity,” President Siljanovska-Davkova said.

The President said despite not being mentioned in the Constitution, the Bulgarians in the country are guaranteed the same rights as the peoples that are mentioned.

“It should also be noted that Bulgaria, in its Constitution, does not have a separate article guaranteeing the rights of minorities in the country and that it has a large number of rulings by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on certain rights of the Macedonians, which it does not respect,” the President said, adding that North Macedonia has far greater minority rights guarantees than many EU member states.

Siljanovska-Davkova said one of the possible “creative solutions” for the issue is the option to use the right of one-third of member states to request from the European Council the withdrawal of voting rights of a member state if it violates the principles of the Union.

After the lecture, the President met with Macedonians who are university professors in Slovenia.

The Macedonian President is on an official visit to Slovenia. On Monday, she met with Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar, who welcomed her with high state honors.

After the meeting with the President, Siljanovska-Davkova also had a working lunch with the Speaker of the Slovenian Parliament, Zoran Stevanović.

As part of the visit, the President laid a wreath at the Monument to the Victims of All Wars and Victims Connected with Wars in Slovenia, and visited the Macedonian Orthodox Church “St. Clement of Ohrid” in Ljubljana, as well as Macedonian emigrants and representatives of Macedonian cultural associations in the country.

Siljanovska-Davkova also held meetings with members of the Macedonian-Slovenian Business Club, and in Kranj she visited the Macedonian Cultural Association.

Photo: MIA