Skopje, 24 July 2025 (MIA) - This Government is characterized by many positive developments, but most importantly, it is not shaken by any major or even minor corruption scandal, something that was unthinkable in the past, said ZNAM president and Kumanovo mayor Maksim Dimitrievski, commenting on the first year of the coalition Government.

He told Kanal 5 TV that things are gradually stabilizing and that the country is moving from a deep deficit to a positive zero, with a period of positive political solutions ahead, which will be reflected into various forms of legislation and the implementation of numerous projects.

Commenting on public debt and loans, Dimitrievski said that in the past, borrowing was non-transparent and done under unfavorable terms. Today, borrowing is transparent and financially balanced.

“This Government is working to redirect funds back to the citizens, to restore the national dignity of every Macedonian and every citizen, and to ensure that everyone is equal before the law,” he added.

Responding to a question on Bulgaria’s obstructions of the EU accession process, Dimitrievski stated that the current Government remains firmly committed to the European Union, noting, “Our place is there, and one day we will become Europeans.”

He stressed that the Government will never allow us to trample on ourselves, to renounce our identity, language, culture, and history.

“We cannot have a shared history. Everything that was done in the past, including the infamous second protocol and the French proposal, were disastrous decisions made by the previous government without the will of the majority Macedonian population, the constitutional people who founded this country. That government disregarded the will of the majority, and that’s why it ended the way it did,” Dimitrievski said.

In that context, Dimitrievski stated that “we will not yield from outside pressures.”

“No pressure from outside will move things from a deadlock. This is not about the Bulgarians or their inclusion in the Constitution. It’s about the next set of demands that will come through the Sofia–Skopje channel. And in the end, even if any EU act or European institution formally includes the Macedonian language and the Macedonian people, that is precisely why we want to be there: because we are joining a union of states where the rights of the small are protected in relation to the big,” Dimitrievski said.

Photo: MIA archive