Prilep, 11 October 2025 (MIA) — The place of this small country is in the European Union, but not at any cost, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said Saturday in his remarks at a celebration of National Uprising Day.

"We have to send a clear political message: Yes to the European Union, No to bilateral conditions and Yes to guarantees from the European Council, which needs, if it really wants to see this small country as part of Europe, to send a conclusion at the next European Council clearly saying that none of them have a problem with the distinct Macedonian identity, with the Macedonian language codified 80 years ago and with our centuries-old culture and tradition. And to say: No more vetoes and obstacles due to bilateral issues," Mickoski said. 

"Our eastern neighbor needs to show European maturity and true European values ​​and respect international law, which says the Court of Human Rights rulings should be implemented so the Macedonian people in Western Bulgaria finally get what they have long been entitled to, which is to succeed in uniting into a community and nominate their representative in the minority rights council in the Bulgarian government. These are our red lines," Mickoski said.

Recalling the country's EU path in recent years, Mickoski said there had been difficult concessions and underhanded blows but there was no other option.

"Our huge obstacle on the path to the EU is the issue with our eastern neighbor and the so-called French proposal the previous government accepted. Now that is the obstacle we must overcome," he said.

"But let us not forget about the huge hypocrisy of these same people who were convincing us there was nothing better than the French proposal and that our identity was being protected. They are now trying, through a political maneuver, to draw red lines that should protect us from this proposal they themselves had accepted," Mickoski said.

According to him, citizens are rightly concerned about whether this was the last concession the country would be asked to make.

Mickoski also said the road to the EU was not easy. 

"On the contrary, the fates of small nations and states have largely depended on the games of larger nations and states," he said, adding that the country needed to reach its goals in this global context.

"And we always need to have a plan A and a plan B, but our goal stays the same," Mickoski said.

He said there was always a plan B and there was no power that would force him to make the wrong decision for the country.

"This is why I am the subject of a smear campaign of lies and slander," he said. "Because they live on the backs of the people and the state, and we live for our homeland and the people." 

"I will never disappoint you. We are together in this fight and we will continue to be together until we achieve our common goal of a Macedonia that has a future and hope," Mickoski said. mr/