English
Sloboden Pecat took a comment made by Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski, who in an interview said that the EU is not prepared for expansion toward the Balkans.
Regarding the EU enlargement, the situation is clear – it stopped in 2013 with croatia. The possibility to see it resume, according to me, is theoretical. Not because of us but because of the internal conditions in the EU. Even if we accepted all the demands, like the previous Government did with relation to Greece, nothing would happen. The reality is that there is no appetite for enlargement. The Prime Minister of Albania and the President of Serbia sent out a joint letter in which, broadly speaking, they said that they are aware that the EU will not bring them in, so they asked for alternative relations. Unfortunately, no-one in the region will become a member, not because of us but because the EU is not ready, said Nikoloski in his interview.
The Deputy Prime Minister also said that, out of the six big EU member states, only Poland is prepared to support enlargement. “If they were ready for enlargement, we would not be discussing these artificial problems. We are a little bit more experienced than our colleagues. This is the first or the second time they are being lied to, and for us it would be the 20th time. It is dishonest to lie to the people, and there is an attempt to lie to the people of the entire region”.
Sloboden Pecat republished these comments to make it appear that Macedonia is giving up on enlargement.
I have a problem when journalists take my comments, reduce them to a headline of five words and take the meaning out of context. Either way, the EU is the no. 1 partner for Macedonia and Macedonia’s place is in the EU. We are working on it and it is no coincidence that we are dedicating so much time and energy on the Growth Plan and the reforms that come with it. Everything else is spin and manipulation, said Nikoloski.