VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski met today with the US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia James O’Brien, who is in Skopje for the OSCE conference.

VMRO-DPMNE issued a statement after the meeting, informing that Mickoski and O’Brien, accompanied by US Ambassador Aggeler and VMRO officials Mucinski and Misajlovski, discussed the “strategic interest of having Macedonia join the European Union, and to protect the national identity of the Macedonian people and Macedonia”. VMRO is under some pressure to accept the Bulgarian demands for changes to the Constitution, even though lately it seems that even the Kovacevski Government, which accepted the demands but lacks the votes in Parliament, is resigned to the fact that the changes won’t happen. Macedonia goes to the polls next year and it seems likely that the talks will Bulgaria will resume under the next Government, heavily favored to be led by VMRO.

On his part, Mickoski affirmed the need for a serious fight against corruption and crime, which remain major problems for our citizens. There is need of stystemic reforms that will improve living standards in the country, VMRO-DPMNE said in a statement.