Skopje, 30 May 2025 (MIA) - SDSM leader Venko Filipche said Friday he requested support from the Party of European Socialists (PES) for the Report referencing the Macedonian identity and language, which the European Parliament is set to discuss next week. The opposition leader said the issue raises the dilemma whether the Report will be sufficient guarantee for the Government to unblock the country’s EU accession process.

“I already spoke yesterday with the Secretary General of the Party of European Socialists (PES) – which we are a part of – Mr. Giacomo Filibeck. We are continuing our talks today, to see what concrete steps we need to take, to talk with the MEPs that are a part of our family of democrats and socialists,” Filicphe said.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski urged the opposition on Thursday to lobby with their affiliated parties in the European Parliament over the Report, but Filipche said he wonders whether it will serve as a sufficient guarantee for the Prime Minister to launch the process of constitutional amendments.

“What is the point of this declaration and if it is accepted will it finally serve as sufficient guarantee for the Prime Minister to launch the process of constitutional amendments? It seems like the Government always has some principles and red lines, but if they don’t work, then they have different ones. At the beginning it was the deferred implementation of the constitutional amendments, then the judgments [of the European Court of Human Rights] in Strasbourg, now the declaration in the European Parliament. The key question is, when will it be enough,” Filipche stressed.  

The opposition leader said the previous SDSM-led Government did enough to protect the language and identity of the Macedonian people, pointing to the fact that the Macedonian language has officially been recognized in the European Union, “without any asterisks or footnotes, and there is already a signed official agreement in Macedonian – the Frontex Agreement,” he said.

“But we will remain completely constructive, since I think this is good and proper, because we finally need to unblock this process,” Filipche said.

MIA file photo