English
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski today, in his address on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Macedonia’s independence, said that his Government is working towards making this the generation that will bring the country into the EU, but added that everyone is aware that there is one remaining challenge at the start of that path, and to overcome it, it is necessary to create trust.
Mickoski emphasized that trust will be created if the facts are accepted, calling on Bulgaria to stop ignoring the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for the denial of the rights of the Macedonian community in Bulgaria, and to put an end to the refusal of the right to use the native Macedonian language. Mickoski also asked Bulgaria to stop trying to reduce the roots of the Macedonian people in decision of the Communist Comintern in the 20th century. The Prime Minister emphasized that our path is the European one, but on it, compromises cannot be made regarding identity, language and culture.
I also wish that I am working towards being the generation that will bring the country into the European Union. There is no better option for the country – that is true. But at the same time, each of you should know that there is one last challenge that lies ahead of us, not to finish the road, but to start it, not because we have any guarantee that we will reach the goal, but that we will start walking that road. When you hear all those hypocritical cries of helplessness from our political opponents or at least from some of them, who say in a state of complacency – solve the problem and are not at all aware that they are the ones who essentially created the problem, who, by accepting it in an adventurous way, created a condition for our progress, towards full membership in the EU. The same ones that we hear today as if on an open stage are calling us to solve it and that we will solve it, we just need patience, first to create trust, and in order to create trust, we need to stop ignoring the judgments of the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for the Macedonian community. We need to stop denying the right to my native Macedonian language, we need to stop looking for the roots of the Macedonian people as a result of a decision of the Communist Comintern, but to accept a fact that it is centuries old. These are facts from which there is no escape and until we accept these facts there is no trust, and when there is no trust there is no dialogue, so first let’s create trust, and then let’s conduct dialogue. We are not leading a dialogue without doors anywhere, but towards new problems and new defeats, said Mickoski.