VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski took to the airwaves today to reiterate that he will not make any concessions with Macedonian national issues, after the distorting of a video made in Zagreb, during the EPP summit. Mickoski was meeting Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in Zagreb, who had his team turn on the Facebook live stream of the meeting, and instead of the usual pleasantries at the start of the meeting, began to press Mickoski on the treaty he signed with the now outgoing Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in 2017.
Will you support support the good-neighborly treaty between Builgaria and what is now “North” Macedonia?, Borisov asked Mickoski.
Everything that can be positive for both countries, for both parties, for Macedonia and Bulgaria, we will support, Mickoski said, after which Borisov’s live stream went offline.
Media outlets close to Zaev jumped on the video as evidence that VMRO-DPMNE supports the treaty, under which Bulgarian historians are asking their Macedonian colleagues to declare historic figures as Bulgarian by nationlity. Bulgaria has conditioned its support for Macedonia’s EU accession process with the continued delivery of these concessions, and Bulgarian leaders recently put together their “framework conditions” under which they will allow Macedonia to open EU accession talks.
Our position is known and it is unchanged. We have repeated it many times in the past and what I said yesterday reflects the position of VMRO-DPMNE that the party and I personally support everything that is good for both Macedonia and Bulgaria. I had a constructive meeting with Mr. Borisov, we discussed highways, railway links, energy links, deeper cooperation between our universities, the opening of the Klepalo border crossing. All this brings benefits to both the citizens of Macedonia and of Bulgaria. We also discussed the resolution that denies the uniqueness of the Macedonian language and addresses the historic profile of Goce Delcev. that is not good. I can’t support it and I will never support it. What is good for the citizens of Macedonia and Bulgaria we support, but we won’t support what is against the interests of Macedonia and the Macedonian citizens such as the issues linked with the Macedonian language and the work of Goce Delcev, Mickoski said.
He blamed the propaganda machine working to support Zaev and his SDSM party of distorting the portion of his statement aired by Borisov. “Zaev’s well paid journalists are clearly nervous and they distort the truth in order to present fake news before the Macedonian public”.
Following the failure of the european Council in October Borisov publicly called on Zaev not to resign and to remain Prime Minister for as long as he can, given that he has “more work to do” and that Bulgaria is not certain that a different Government would have the same priorities as Zaev. Borisov presented the priorities as committment to EU and NATO membership, and asked Mickoski about this at the start of their meeting. Mickoski underscored that, as a conservative, non-Communist party, unlike SDSM, VMRO-DPMNE always held the Western, European values close to its heart.
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