Skopje, 20 April 2026 (MIA) - SDSM leader Venko Filipche told a Central Board session on the party's 35th anniversary on Monday that SDSM is made of people who believe in values, those with open minds, the youth, the ones who criticize and respect free media, women, NGOs and other organizations, people who don't owe anything to anyone other than their own conscience or the public interest.

"When we say that the social-democratic values are our imperative, this means we should be persistent and courageous in our commitment to implement reforms when in power and exercise strong pressure when in opposition," said Filipche.

He said the guiding principle of SDSM's policies has always been the idea of a Macedonia as a decent, fair and European country.

"On SDSM's 35th anniversary, let us recall on Kiro Gligorov's words 'Macedonia is all that we have.' This sentence has more statehood wisdom than all the noise we have heard over the past decades. This wisdom paves our future. Therefore, let's not promise ourselves easy victories but difficult political and democratic struggles and honesty. Let's promise justice. Let's promise a country that does not fear the truth. Let's promise policies worthy of Macedonia," said Filipche.

He added that SDSM is made from meritocracy, respect for the worker, and the capability to listen to the person who does not applaud by automatism.

"We are a party that is closer to the citizen than the power. This is the only way to see defeats as lessons, otherwise victories will only serve as delayed defeats," said Filipche.

The SDSM leader said social democracy is not measured by big and historic decisions but by whether the citizen can live a decent life.

"It is measured by the state's ability to protect the vulnerable one, not only counting and manipulating people through betralyals and blockades of the highest national interests while sacrificing generations of Macedonian citizens. It is measured by how free a person is and how certain he/she is that the law is on their side. It is measured by the protection of the weaker and less represented on various grounds," said Filipche.

He provided a retrospective of the party's activities, starting from the country's first political government in 1992, the signing of the Ohrid Framework Agreement in 2001, the EU candidate status in 2005, the Prespa Agreement, the NATO accession.

"These decisions will be debated for years to come. We still witness propaganda about grand treason, alleged betrayal of national interests, identity, language and history. But the facts remain - nothing has been lost. Our identity, language, culture and history have been protected. The EU has signed an agreement in the Macedonian language. The country has become safer. Our language, identity and culture are SDSM's red lines," noted Filipche.

Quoting the words of SDSM's first leader Branko Crvenkovski, who once said "petty souls do not make a country", Filipche said history remembers not those who were the loudest but those who took the most difficult of responsibilities.

On Euro-integration, the SDSM leader said Macedonia is facing a big test because the EU path is stuck once again.

"They openly and shamelessly say this will go on for decades, portraying it as protection of the national interests. It is a lie. There is no larger interest, be it state, national, security or democratic, than the EU and NATO. The rule of law was rocked but the recent partisan moves in the judiciary have obliterated it. Corruption looms over the state, whereas the Kochani tragedy opened the wound of systemic lack of responsibility, showing what happens when corruption stops being an abstract notion and becomes a human tragedy," said Filipche.

He told political opponents that the country was never strong when it was loud but when it was reasonable.

"Pride is here, on the right side of history. Their side is one of shame, betrayal of national interests, anti-European policies, crime, control over the judiciary and universities, humiliation of workers, professors, youth, pensioners, farmers. Lies, false patriotism, raw nationalism at the expense of interethnic relations are gone. We are putting the power back into the hands of citizens," underlined Filipche.

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