Kavadarci, 6 December 2025 (MIA) — If the nation has learned anything over the years, it is that Macedonia does not fail when times are hard; it fails when it gives up, VMRO-DPMNE leader and PM Hristijan Mickoski said at the party's 18th congress taking place in Kavadarci.

"Today, we refuse to give up. We refuse to accept the idea that a small country should have small ambitions. We refuse to believe that our children need to go abroad to succeed. We refuse to accept the story that Macedonia is too small for big things," Mickoski said.

He told the congress that the state was entering maturity.

"We are continuing the pursuit of statehood; of dignity; of our place under the sun that no one can take away from us. Let my words from this hall reach every home in the country: This is the time of creation, and not of waiting. Of vision, and not of fear. Of standing together, amd not of calculations. Of building, and not of excuses. Macedonia is entering its decade of maturity. And we, gathered here today, have the duty to be the generation drawing the fundamental line: That the state can, that the state knows how and that the state will succeed. This is our promise. This is our vow. This is our mission," Mickoski said.

He also said that words did not build states, but character did; and that the future was not determined by brave speeches, but by brave decisions.

"In the life of every generation there is a moment when history stops being a textbook and becomes a duty," he said. "This exact moment is facing us. We are not just talking programs, platforms, numbers or measures today. We are talking something bigger: Restoring Macedonian self-confidence. Bringing back the feeling that this country is not a coincidence, but a legacy; it is not an experiment, but a hard-won right; it is not a compromise, but the covenant of generations that fought for our existence." 

He said Macedonians should "stop allowing fear, cynicism or habit to decide our direction." 

"Macedonia cannot live on the defensive. It must stand upright, with dignity, with clear thinking and with a unbreakable will," he said. 

"So today we are renewing the great idea that the state is everyone's common home but also everyone's duty," Mickoski said, adding that "freedom is not a gift, but a discipline."

"Progress does not come to those who wait, but to those who set out to create it. We are the ones who need to set out. No one from outside will build our state. Nor will they protect our history. Nor will they write our vision. This is our honor, our duty and our generational mission," the VMRO-DPMNE president said. mr/