Skopje, 4 February 2025 (MIA) — When SDSM was in power, it made all efforts to move the country's EU integration process forward, despite the decades-long obstructions; it is the current government's turn to deliver on its election promises and begin talks with Bulgaria's new political government to unblock the path to the EU, opposition SDSM leader Venko Filipche told the press Tuesday.

"We, as the government, as the ruling party, did everything in the past seven years to accelerate the process, which had stalled for decades because of obstructions from outside," Filipche said.

"The Prespa Agreement was signed, which resolved the problem with Greece, and thanks to which we became a member of NATO," he said, also noting that the so-called French proposal that passed in Parliament had already opened the negotiation process with the EU.

According to Filipche, the next step was to begin opening the negotiating chapters. "It is a process I believe will bring citizens a much better, higher quality of life, more financial resources, more European values," he said.

He also said the decades-long wait to join the EU had forced young people to leave the country.

"SDSM has done everything possible, as always over the past 30 years, to push the country forward. We are now waiting for the government to deliver on its election promises to provide a better negotiating position and to change the framework. We'll support any improved proposal that is put on the table," Filipche said in response to a reporter asking him if he felt moral responsibility for stopping the EU accession process and if his party would try to talk to Bulgarian political leaders.

Filipche reiterated his call for a parliamentary session at which all parliamentary political parties would discuss the EU integration process. He said the current government should contact the new Bulgarian government for talks to unblock the process with the help of the EU and the US.

"I hope both the EU and the US, as our traditional partners, will get involved in this process," Filipche said.

"The government has said it expected a political government to be formed in Bulgaria so they could talk to them. Now that Bulgaria has formed its political government, I expect them to start that process of talks as soon as possible because time is passing by. Albania is moving forward, Montenegro is moving forward, and we are seriously lagging behind," he said.

Filipche talked to the press after attending a flower-laying ceremony at Goce Delchev's grave in the Church of St. Spas in Skopje, where the 153rd anniversary of Delchev's birth was marked.

In his remarks at the event, the opposition leader said Delchev was the nation's greatest revolutionary and visionary, led by social democratic values.

"He fought for a free Macedonia, a democratic one, which guarantees the individual freedoms of people and justice. His wise thoughts are current and relevant even today. He went into battle inviting everyone to join in, regardless of their ethnic, national or political affiliation. Because they had one goal: a free country," he said.

"We need to follow his example, overcome differences when it comes to our national interests and fight together for an even more prosperous and EU-integrated Macedonia," Filipche said. mr/