VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski called on the European Union to finally provide guarantees to Macedonia over its stalled EU accession process. Mickoski said this is the only way Macedonia would be able to discuss the latest round of Bulgarian demands – and its key request that the Bulgarian minority is named in the Macedonian Constitution.

VMRO-DPMNE votes are essential to this request and Mickoski has asked for reciprocity – that Bulgaria also acknowledges the Macedonian minority in its Constitution. The opposition leader said that he now expects a round of pressure on the members of Parliament, similarly to what happened during the imposed Prespa Treaty.

The pressure will start, the devaluing of the Parliament will start. We’ve seen that scenario in the past. I accept all this burden on myself. Let’s protect the people in the Parliament and the dignity of this institution. Let’s see some guarantees from Brussels and then we can talk about all kinds of treaties, Mickoski said.

A key request Mickoski laid out is that any concessions made now will be the last, and that Macedonia won’t face bilateral disputes in the future course of its accession talks. He asked the EU to provide guarantees that it will preserve the Macedonian language, the history of the Macedonian people, and that its culture and customs will not be undermined in the course of the accession talks.