Bishop Agatangel of Veles called for a major gathering in front of the EU mission in Skopje and the Macedonian Parliament on Sunday, demanding that the accession process to the EU does not result in humiliation of the Macedonians. Macedonia was forced to change its name and begin an open-ended process of redefining Macedonian national identity as condition to be allowed to join NATO and begin EU accession talks.

We must not betray our forefathers who laid their lives for our freedom and our chance to live in a democratic society. We all strive toward Europe, but for us, Europe must not be shame and embarrassment, we should take pride in it and we need to join EU with our heads held up high, not with our Macedonian name, identity and language disrespected, the bishop said.