Brussels, 4 November 2025 (MIA) - Two and a half decades after starting the journey to EU membership we are in the same place where we were, not because of the Copenhagen criteria, but due to some artificial reasons, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told Tuesday's European Enlargement Summit hosted by Euronews in Brussels. 

Mickoski pointed out that the country started its journey to the European Union 25 years ago, when the Stabilisation and Association Agreement was signed with the Union, then became a candidate country in 2005, together with Croatia, received the first positive report for starting negotiations in 2009, together with Croatia, and unfortunately it is in the same place where it was 25 years ago.  

"Not because of the Copenhagen criteria, not because of fulfilling some objectives, but because of some artificial disputes. Such are our national flag, our national name, our country name, change of constitution this, change of Constitution that. Again there is another hurdle, another constraint imposed in front of us for changing the Constitution, so it's not about fulfilling criteria," the PM said. 

Mickoski stressed that despite all these hurdles, "we do believe that our future is in the European Union". 

"We are a part of the European continent, and we do believe that integration of the Western Balkans in the EU means added value for EU itself, and this means reunification of the European continent, and I do think that the future of my country and the future of my nation, Macedonians, is within the European Union. And therefore, despite all those humiliations and disappointments, and despite the current frustration which is inside our citizens, we do share the same values," said Mickoski. 

He noted that when the Prespa Agreement was "on the table", a lot of people from all over the world were trying to convince us that the country is the frontrunner in the region, far ahead compared to the other countries from the Western Balkans, and immediately when a solution is found to the name dispute with Greece, the country will immediately become a member of NATO, and it will take probably four or five years to become a member of the EU. 

"Those four or five years expired two years ago. And we are in the same place where we were two and a half decades ago. Why? Because now a new hurdle, a new constraint is in front of us, again change of the Constitution," Mickoski said. 

According to him, the substance of the new constitutional change is adding into the Preamble of the Constitution a part of Bulgarian people living in our country, and according to the last census data these are couple of hundred people who declared during the last census that their mother tongue is Bulgarian language. 

He pointed out that now the question citizens are asking is whether this change to the Constitution will be the last one, or probably there will be some additional in the future.  

"Why we need to bring a couple of hundred citizens of our country into our Constitution? We are talking about violation of someone's human rights? Who are we politicians to judge whether someone's rights have been violated or not? We can only misuse that issue. The real institution which is judging whether someone's rights have been violated or not is in Strasbourg, and it's called European Court of Human Rights," said Mickoski.   

The PM noted that during the last couple of years the European Court has judged 14 times in the favour of the Macedonian community in Bulgaria and zero times in the favour of the Bulgarian community in the country, which raised an additional question of why we should change our Constitution then, and why we are not talking about the human rights of the Macedonian community in Bulgaria. According to Mickoski, that is precisely why the Government is raising the question of respecting international law and resolutions protecting human rights. 

He said the couple of hundred members of the Bulgarian community in the country have all the rights and are part of the country's institutions, while on the other hand, the tens of thousands members of the Macedonian community in Bulgaria are not even allowed to register non-governmental organizations. 

"But, OK. They are in the EU, we are out, this is a bit of bullying, OK. We would like to see ourselves on the table in Brussels, and what is now the price, and whether this is the last price that we should pay. This is the real question," Mickoski said. 

He stressed that if the EU is witnessing and allows this kind of behaviour and vetoing someone who wants to join the Union, then that recipe could be applied in other cases, and that principle will destroy all the values ​​the Union is built upon. 

"The European Union, itself, should ask themselves what we are doing. What we are doing with this unanimity and is it according to the principles and values based on which we've been developed. So. I'm not surprised and probably this will occur in the future again and again because it works. Obviously it works, because two and a half decades ago we started this journey, and we are in the same place where we were two and a half decades ago. Why, because someone is misusing this tool," Mickoski pointed out.  

The PM said that despite all the hurdles, the support of the Macedonian citizens for EU membership is among the highest in the region, but at the same time he has been witnessing that many young people are willing to depart from the country because they were feeling hopeless, and most of them were now living in the European countries.  

"When I was elected as Prime Minister I said, OK, this is a hurdle, probably there will be a lot of challenges in front of us until the very end. This is the destiny of the small nations, the big ones do what they can and the small ones are doing what they must. Unfortunately, we are small, but let's do our homework, let's create a good environment, let's bring young people back home and let's develop something that will be good for them. Let's deliver homework that will impress the EU, and maybe then, someone from the EU will say enough is enough. Let's do something for them, otherwise this is damaging our values and practically this does not have a future," Mickoski said. 

Therefore, according to him, the country needs to finish its homework and deliver, which has been visible since the new Government was elected, in terms of economy with the biggest growth of GDP this year, low inflation rate and quite decent macroeconomic situation.  

"And, people are coming back home, which is good and encouraging," PM Mickoski concluded. 

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